Smile for the Camera
by Balkoth
Summary: The Teen Titans have met an enemy who does not care about gaining power, who does not care about killing them. Falling for a warm smile and a legal trap, the Titans will meet their toughest opponent: a camera crew. Mild BBRae.
1. Chapter 1

Hello to you all. For those who do not know, I am Balkoth. Returning readers, welcome back! It has been far too long. For new readers, welcome! I do hope that you enjoy and can take something special away from my work. Now, on to the story, right? You could skip down (some of you already have) but I like to waste some of your time before diving into a story.

This is a story I have mixed feelings about. I really like the idea. It has been done before (sorta). That said, in the spirit of breathing life back into the cliche, any reader can expect to see a few new things. My theory is that there are truly original ideas out there that are worth twice their weight in gold or other precious metal of your choosing. For every original idea, however, there is an idea that has been done before. Look around a library if you doubt me. All books are not 'original' in the sense that they are brand new. Many offer a new angle and that is what I aim for in this work.

I have here an idea that has been written over and over until it's sickening to even think about reading another one. But there is a perspective here you'll not find in a different story by a different author. Enjoy. And please, tell me what you think. As a general rule, I accept and respect all criticism and opinions until it is proven that such respect is unwarranted.

What is to follow is a large blanket disclamier:

**Balkoth hereby affirms, by affixation of typed penname at the close of this statement, that Balkoth does not own the Teen Titans. The characters portrayed in this work are the rightful and legal property of Cartoon Network and DC Comics. Balkoth has never - nor will Balkoth ever - assert that these characters belong to any person(s) other than those previously mentioned. Any legal action against Balkoth for the production of this work is unwarranted; no profit is being made.**

**Characters and events portrayed in this work are fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is unintentional.**

**Balkoth has created a number of characters for various appearances in this work. These characters are the product of personal probing, long debates against various alter-egos, careful planning, and hard work. Balkoth considers these characters an extension of Balkoth's own being or soul. Unlawful use of these characters by others in a context other than the original one is not appreciated.**

**This work, while stemming from a recycled idea and a pre-existing world created by others, is very much an original work of Balkoth's. Balkoth urges others to enjoy, comment, and assist in anyway that seems prudent. Replication of this work will be viewed in a most unfavorable light.**

**Balkoth **

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Smile for the Camera**  
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**SUMMER 1998**

The sun was beating down on the city so fiercely that eight senior citizens had died of heat stroke earlier in the week. The heat wave was showing no sign of abating and the city was placing bans on lawn sprinklers and anything else dealing with water that came to mind.

Pools all over the city were packed to bursting until the temperature of the water was no better than the temperature elsewhere. Air conditioning units were working on and off throughout the concrete metropolis of Jump City. The lucky were sealed in their homes or apartments charging money for admittance. The unlucky and the poor stood in lines that stretched on for blocks just to get a bag of ice from a local gas station or grocery store. Cyborg and Beast Boy stood in one such line, tapping their feet impatiently and hoping that there was still ice when the store came into view, never mind when they actually got into it.

Sweat slid down Beast Boy's skin and glued his uniform to his frame as a half-hearted breeze made it painfully obvious that the person in front of him hadn't used deodorant that morning. Possibly not even that week. Cyborg just stared ahead with unblinking eyes while his internal cooling systems kept his circuitry from overheating. Beast Boy had been telling him all week that as long as he was installing stuff into the new tower and his own body he should add a giant fan. Cyborg apparently didn't like jokes about his mechanical body, even if Beast Boy had only been half joking when he'd said it. Or maybe was what had bothered Cyborg.

The oldest Titan stood at least a foot above Beast Boy and the changeling moved until he was standing in his new teammate's shadow. It didn't help much but there might have been a half-degree drop and that was fine by Beast Boy's standards. Then Cyborg moved up the cue, and Beast Boy was left in the blistering heat once more.

"Dude," Beast Boy whined as the forward movement stopped after about half an inch, "Can't we just… you know, cut everyone?"

"If you want to tell the hundred people in front of us that we're cutting, I don't know you," Cyborg said with boredom and irritation eating away at his words. Beast Boy glared defiantly at Cyborg. The action was undermined when he was forced to blink by a bead of sweat that slipped into the shelter of his eye.

"Look, Cyborg, just because you're made of metal doesn't mean you need to be as cold as it!" Beast Boy snapped, his friend's bluntness and the heat working in sync to release his simmering temper.

"And just 'cause you look like an idiot doesn't mean you should act like one. We can't just cut people. Robin sent us to get ice, not to bully the people we're supposed to protect," Cyborg said evenly. Then he went back to staring forward as if nothing had happened, obviously more in control of himself then his new teammate. Beast Boy just crossed his arms over his chest and looked anywhere but at Cyborg. After the line snailed forward another inch, Beast Boy picked up the dropped semi-argument.

"We're the superheroes. Don't we get any perks?"

"Perks like what?" Cyborg asked without looking down.

Beast Boy raised a fist and knocked loudly on Cyborg's chest plate, knowing that he couldn't reach his head. "Hello? How about being able to get ice during a heat wave without standing in line for two hours only to find out that there isn't any left?" Cyborg sighed and did not respond.

"You don't get to spend any more time with the ice princess. Between the two of you, we don't need ice." Beast Boy hadn't meant for Cyborg to hear him. He hadn't even really meant to speak the thought out loud but Cyborg rounded on him in an instant, his self-control finally snapped.

"One, drop the attitude. We have enough problems on the team without you adding more. Raven has a name – use it. She isn't just 'the ice princess.' You should be nice to her; she's just nervous about fitting in. Two, I'm not being mean to you, man, we just can't cut everybody – it's wrong." Cyborg kept his voice down as he spoke, and Beast Boy realized about halfway through that every additional word was spoken in a deeper, more menacing, tone.

Beast Boy craned his neck back to see Cyborg's face, fully intent on arguing with him. Nobody wanted to admit it but the Teen Titans were having trouble forming a team, and this heat wave was bringing out the worst in all of them. He was distracted by the fact that he could see Cyborg's face. At this time of day, the sun should have blinded Beast Boy when he looked up.

Cyborg was still talking, though he seemed to have calmed down after meeting no resistance from Beast Boy. Beast Boy didn't hear him. He just kept looking up into the sky. A sky filled with angry gray smoke.

"Cyborg," Beast Boy pointed at the smoke as it billowed upward to the heavens.

Cyborg stopped what was obviously a very earnest lecture to look where Beast Boy was pointing. Without another word, he grabbed Beast Boy by the collar and dragged him out of the line they had been standing in for the past two hours. Beast Boy tried to cry his protests but Cyborg cut him off. "We'll get ice later, man. We need to help with that fire."

Beast Boy followed in Cyborg's wake as they barreled down the streets in a sprint that neither of them would have been able to manage without Robin's insane training regimen. That was a detail they wouldn't be telling him, of course. As Beast Boy ran he started to sweat even more profusely than he had while standing in line. He hadn't thought anything except a melting snowman could release so much water so quickly.

When the building came into view, Beast Boy groaned. The fire department was already on the scene but the fire hydrant they had tapped into wasn't working, most likely cut off by a city official who wanted to fudge the water bans without getting caught. The building was suffering as a result: red-hot flames lapped at the bricks, charring them black and eating away at anything unfortunate enough to be dry or flammable on such a hot day. In short, there was very little that wasn't alight in a deadly display of dancing light.

As Beast Boy pulled his new communicator from his pocket, Cyborg rushed to the building and crashed through the door. After a few seconds, Starfire's face appeared on the screen. "Friend Beast Boy, you have gotten the frozen articles we require?"

Beast Boy fought the urge to shake his head at the "Friend" the strange alien girl tacked in front of everybody's name. Taking a breath to calm himself Beast Boy addressed the girl. "Not yet, we have to play hero first. Just follow the giant cloud of smoke." Beast Boy switched off his communicator and hastily shoved it into his pocket again.

The fire continued to rage as Cyborg pulled a few people off the lower levels and helped them outside. The upper levels were beyond his reach. The elevator was shorted out and the stairwell had collapsed.

Starfire arrived just as Cyborg exited with a teenage boy in his arms. The kid was babbling in a language that was barely recognizable as English and pounding against Cyborg's chest with petite, almost feminine, hands.

Beast Boy and Starfire ignored the boy as they watched the fire progress. A loud explosion rocked the structure as a window on the seventh floor was blown clear out of its frame, followed closely by forked tongues of flame and more smoke. They shared a small nod. Starfire flew over and hoisted Beast Boy off the ground. Just as they started to fly toward the bay, Beast Boy distinctly heard the boy yelling a name: Lynn.

Starfire darted across the city so quickly that even familiar landmarks were turned into indistinguishable blurs. Once they reached the bay, Starfire started to lower their altitude.

"You have a good grip?" Beast Boy yelled, hoping to be heard over the rushing wind. His only response was a painful squeeze that almost took off his arms. Starfire had a really good grip. Beast Boy closed his eyes, and started to chant to himself.

_Think big. Think big. Think big. Think big._

After a painfully drawn-out moment, Beast Boy felt his body start to change. It grew in size and form. He sprouted fins and a tail, suppressed the desire to settle for a small fish, and continued to expand. Anyone happening to look out at the bay would see Starfire, a member of a new group of vigilantes, lowering a green humpback whale into the water. And then lifting it back out again.

Beast Boy couldn't remember ever doing something so hard in his life. He had never been able to turn into something as large, as complex, as a whale before. He'd managed a Tyrannosaurus Rex once while with the Doom Patrol, but the transformation had lasted less than thirty seconds. Now he was doing basically the same thing but having to hold the form for four minutes. Starfire was flying as fast as she could, but they were making progress too slowly for Beast Boy to maintain his transformation.

They got closer and closer and Beast Boy felt himself losing energy as the smoke started attacking his eyes. His vision was blurring; he wasn't going to make it. As if sensing his weakening resolve, Starfire squeezed again, this time reassuringly and somehow not as violently as she did with other physical contact. That was probably what had made it possible.

Starfire lowered their altitude again as they approached the fire. Beast Boy opened his mouth from shock as his stomach scrapped along the first rooftop and dislodged the first gargoyle, sending the figure to the ground where it would meet a violent end. Gallons of salt water sloshed out onto the street, causing a temporary flood before the storm gutters could do their job.

Liquid continued to spill out of Beast Boy's mouth as they approached the fire. Finally, the water started landing on the blistering flame. With an angry hiss, the blaze went out, shrinking inch by inch and disappearing flame by flame. Once Beast Boy's mouth was half-empty, Starfire flew up about four dozen feet and turned him upside down, emptying everything onto the sputtering building.

Beast Boy felt his body start to change again – shrinking this time. He lost his fins and grew fingers. Legs replaced his tail. By the time the transformation was complete Beast Boy was exhausted and unconscious. That was why he never saw the roof collapse.

**Winter 2004**

The entire city was asleep. A light flurry had started an hour ago and snow was just beginning to latch onto windowsills. Dim light from the new moon fell onto the bay and spread across the water's surface. It was a cold night. Colder than most.

Silence pervaded in Beast Boy's room as the snow continued to fall. Beast Boy was, surprisingly, not asleep. His heightened hearing could pick out a continuous dripping from the sinks in the tower. Cyborg had gone around before going to bed and turned the facets on so that the pipes wouldn't freeze overnight. Beast Boy wasn't trying to hear the running water; that just made him need to use the bathroom. No, Beast Boy was counting the deep breaths of sleep from his teammates, all four of them.

With meticulous care, Beast Boy switched on his personal computer. The blue light shot forth into the room and sent shadows scurrying into their corners. Beast Boy paused and counted breaths. In truth, he was being paranoid. What Beast Boy was doing wasn't wrong. It was just that none of his friends would be overly fond of it.

Beast Boy grabbed his mouse and opened the Internet browser. With rapid keystrokes he entered a URL address. When Raven had insisted that Beast Boy needed to find a hobby other than bothering her she hadn't had this in mind. He knew that. Still, she hadn't been specific, so Beast Boy had started reading fanfiction about the Titans.

Beast Boy scanned through the new entries, pausing now and then to read a summary that caught his interest. He couldn't really place his finger on why he liked reading what people thought about him and the other Titans. If he had to guess he'd go with that it was funny. Most of the ideas and reactions that the authors on the web cite crafted were ludicrous. They had no clue what the tower was really like and their guesses were just crazy enough to be funny and sad at the same time.

Beast Boy stopped at a story that looked like it would be entertaining. He picked his ears up one last time, counted four deep breaths, and began to read.

Beast Boy lost track of time as he read through the story. Just as the tale started to wind down, the action reaching a peak, a soft knock came from Beast Boy's door. Beast Boy jumped and glanced quickly at the clock at the bottom of the screen. It was just early enough for Raven to be awake.

Beast Boy snapped his head around as his door start to hiss open. It was only with great effort that he didn't scramble to close the Internet browser and try to hide what he had been doing. Like that wouldn't have been suspicious.

"Beast Boy? Since when did you wake up early?" Raven asked with the smallest inclination of her head indicating that she wasn't completely awake yet.

Beast Boy spun his chair around completely and slapped his hands against his thighs. "I don't," he answered with a huge yawn, "I couldn't sleep."

Raven nodded and stepped completely into Beast Boy's room. "You didn't even try," she said after throwing a cursory glance at Beast Boy's sloppily made bed.

Beast Boy vented a nervous laugh as Raven drew her cloak closer around her, no doubt to keep in warmth. Somehow, he managed to make the laugh seem natural. Beast Boy motioned at his computer screen. "I started reading this and just got caught up in it. Hadn't realized it was this late."

"Early," Raven corrected Beast Boy without thinking. "What is it?" she asked while moving further into Beast Boy's room. Beast Boy felt himself break out in a nervous sweat. He ran a gloved hand across his brow but covered the move by then running his fingers nonchalantly through his hair. Raven was the least likely person to approve of his new hobby.

Then Beast Boy did something so insane it was brilliant: he rose from his chair in one fluid motion and closed the gap between Raven and himself. Trying to act completely casual, Beast Boy grabbed one of Raven's shoulders and dragged her over to the computer, hoping she wouldn't actually bother to read it.

"This is a blog I've been looking at. You've got to take a look, Raven. These people are geniuses! They've seen every episode of..." Raven slipped out of Beast Boy's grasp and took a step away from the computer.

"That's great, Beast Boy. I'm glad you're having fun, but please don't include me in it. Really. I was just curious when I saw a light in here," Raven said while navigating back to the door. Beast Boy allowed himself a small smile but remembered to call out his protests as the door slid shut again.

Once Raven got out of Beast Boy's room she sighed, relieved that she had just narrowly escaped torture beyond reason. She didn't know what Beast Boy had been looking at. If Beast Boy said the people were geniuses, thought, they were definitely people Raven didn't want to deal with. Raven walked down the halls as something in the back of her mind rattled around, feeling off but never quite clicking into place.

When Raven reached the doors to the living room she drew her cloak closer to her. By a bizarre chance of fate, Raven grabbed the same fabric Beast Boy had touched when he dragged her to the computer. It was still damp with his sweat. That was when the annoying thing that was out of place but didn't quite fit found its home. Beast Boy had been nervous the entire time Raven was in his room. He had no reason to be nervous.

Raven reached out with her senses, trying to get a read on Beast Boy, but there was nothing strange about the emotions he was broadcasting. She couldn't get anything more specific without him knowing she'd been prodding, at least not directly.

Raven stepped into the living room and swept over to the tower's main computer, forgoing her usual morning ritual of herbal tea and meditation before it got too loud to think. With deft fingers, Raven logged onto the main terminal and tried to trace Beast Boy's movements over the Internet.

Raven lost herself in her search. It was almost like active meditation. Beast Boy had been careful, a stupid move that made Raven even more suspicious, but the little green elf had covered his tracks well. Raven had always been better with computers and Beast Boy would soon be reminded of it.

The doors to the living room slid open for the second time that morning as Robin walked into the room, looking drawn and sleep-deprived yet moving as if he never needed sleep again. Raven didn't know he was there at first. She was too engrossed in the electronic tug-o-war Beast Boy had inadvertently engaged her in.

Robin popped open the fridge and withdrew a carton of orange juice. Had Robin been any other teenage male, he would have started drinking straight from the carton with the fridge door still hanging ajar. Robin being Robin, however, he closed the refrigerator door with a small snap and then unearthed a clean drinking glass from the mountain of dishes that had piled up next to the sink over the course of the previous day and never been cleaned.

Raven entered another command as Robin replaced the carton. "What are you doing, Raven?" Robin asked before taking a sip of orange juice.

Raven answered distractedly, not even knowing what she was saying, her fingers still flying across the keyboard while entering a final command. Robin started toward the computer as Raven's efforts finally paid off. Slowly, gaining speed with every millisecond, words were appearing on the main screen. Raven craned her head back to see the entire screen as Robin finally reached her.

"You never actually told me what you were doing," he stated lightly. Raven continued to read, too lost, too horrified, too paralyzed to realize Robin had even said something.

Just as Robin tilted his head back to see what was on the screen for himself, Raven spoke; "We have a problem." Robin read a few lines and decided he couldn't have agreed more.

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**Author's Note**: Tell me what you think. It doesn't take long and thoughtful criticism is much appreciated. As are compliments and theories. 


	2. Chapter 2

To my reviewers, thank you. I hope you enjoy this chapter. It was a little hard to write, but, man, so much fun.

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Smile for the Camera

Beast Boy was sitting up as straightly as he could. The waiting room the Titans were in was the type of place that was designed to permeate a feeling of welcome. In truth, nobody ever spent time in the room. This was made all too clear by the light layer of dust under the chairs the cleaning crew had missed and the People magazine that had been sitting in the same spot on the same glass tabletop for thirteen months. Beast Boy shifted around in his chair. The ugly terra cotta furniture creaked just quietly enough for him to hear it. Other people wouldn't find it noticeable.

Raven caught Beast Boy's fidgeting and shot him an annoyed glance from across the room. She glared at him briefly over the top of her book before going back to her reading. The message was clear. It was the same thing Raven had been telling Beast Boy for the past week as the Titans were bounced from waiting room to waiting room. In essence, the message was to not do anything stupid. Beneath that was the whispered question "Can't you be somebody else?" Beast Boy tried to still himself while returning Raven's glare. If she noticed, Raven gave no indication.

The air felt lonely, if such a thing was possible. It wasn't the aesthetics or anything of that nature. The simple truth was that the room felt neglected. Starved for attention.

Robin was sitting impatiently next to one of the only doors in the room. His foot was hammering away at the floor in a steady rhythm that would eventually gnaw a hole through the creamy carpet if he didn't stop.

Cyborg was a few seats away from Robin with a NASCAR magazine cracked over his knee. He hadn't turned a page for a while and the careful observer would discover that the metallic teen was snoozing lightly.

Of all the Titans, Starfire was the only one with any degree of real energy and curiosity. The bubbly alien had been darting from seat to seat, playing around with some of the beaded tracks left on the floor for the fictional children whom used the room, and flipping her way through at least half of the old paper rags that littered the table, for the past half hour. Beast Boy envied her energy and happiness. The changeling had been having trouble being happy the past few days. If he'd ever known fanfiction allowed stuff like _that_ to be published he wouldn't have read it. He felt soiled. And with good reason.

The door next to Robin swung open a few inches as a spectacled intern poked her head through the threshold. "Teen Titans?" she asked in a slightly awed voice. She didn't really need an answer, apparently. After seeing the five she quickly added in a more serious voice, "Mr. Sawchak can see you now." She quickly pulled her head out of the room while holding the door open, waiting for the Titans to join her. Raven slammed her book shut and rose from her chair. She'd been like that ever since the snow last week. More accurately, she'd been like that ever since she figured out fanfiction existed and Beast Boy had been reading it.

Beast Boy eagerly exploded out of the chair that had held him prisoner for the past forty minutes. He needed to go run in circles or something. This constant waiting was driving him insane. Unfortunately, waiting was what they had been doing for some time, and Beast Boy had a suspicion that they would continue to wait for a few days still. Once the entire team had filtered out of the waiting room, the intern allowed the door to swig shut again.

"Follow me, please," she said in a practiced tone, barely containing her excitement. The six walked down a long corridor. While it had the same paint and carpet of the waiting room, this hallway felt alive, as if somebody might know it existed. Beast Boy walked behind everybody else, a little wary of seeming too eager. The rest of the Titans had been unhappy with Beast Boy's fanfiction viewing at first. Starfire and Cyborg seemed to have cooled down, but Raven and Robin didn't seem any less murderous than they had days ago.

After the group went a few meters in silence, the intern spoke again. "So, you guys are the Titans?"

Beast Boy had to fight the urge to laugh at how awkward the girl was. "Yeah," Beast Boy answered after a brief pause, his sympathy toward the girl overriding his need for self-preservation. The girl smiled thankfully at him. She was nervous (that was obvious), and unfortunately for her, she had met the Titans on one of their worst days. "It's not all it's cracked up to be," Beast Boy continued, encouraged by the intern's smile. "I mean, sure, we get our own table at Angelo's Pizza Parlor, but…" Beast Boy fell silent when he realized Raven was scowling at him. Then she turned away again.

Startled by the sudden silence, the intern followed Beast Boy's gaze to Raven's back. With a knowing smile, she gave Beast Boy an encouraging wink. She wasn't nervous anymore. Unfortunately, she was also smiling to herself about some secret relationship between Beast Boy and Raven, and that was exactly the type of thing they were here to prevent. Among other things.

The intern stopped in front of two large oak doors and knocked gently on the sleek wood. Beast Boy didn't hear anything from inside, but obviously the intern did. She reached forward and opened the door a few inches. She seemed reluctant to open the door and subject them to what lay inside.

"Don't be rude, Madeline," a youthful voice called from inside, "let them in." No sooner had the sentence been finished than both doors were flung wide open. Standing before them, framed by windows that looked out on the gleaming mid-day city, was Sawchak. He did not blend in because of his smile, though it was a blinding sheen that seemed to belong on a billboard. He did not blend in because of his energy, which could fuel the entire city's nightlife if his constant bouncing was any indication. Sawchak blended into the glare of sun on metal because of his attire. Decked out in a flamboyant yellow suit with a loud green shirt and stripped red and black tie, he appeared to have fallen out of bed and selected the clothing that would instill happiness in himself and the world. Personally, Beast Boy just thought he looked like he wanted to give people headaches.

Six pairs of eyes widened but the intern quickly scurried away, leaving only five gaping maws. Sawchak seemed not to notice and gestured to the office behind him, inviting the Titans to come in and choose a seat.

Beast Boy wandered into the office and observed the tasteful and obviously expensive décor. A long table that was so finely polished that it looked like chocolate held a central position in the room. No less than a dozen chairs, each one a rich plum and stuffed until their stitches groaned and complained to each other, were arranged at different angles around the table while another two sat next to a bookcase and behind a workstation complete with computer, phone, fax, and a miniature refrigerator.

Beast Boy flopped down into the nearest chair and felt the cushions mold to his frame instantly. He decided right then that even if the guy dressed like he was preparing to be a firework that Sawchak was awesome. The other Titans preformed a similar scanning of the office before taking their own seats.

"So," Sawchak snapped the doors closed before turning his smiling visage to the seated teenagers. In truth, he was only a little older than they were. "I'm told you needed to see me?" As he spoke, Sawchak walked around the office until he got to the refrigerator. Popping it open with his foot, he grabbed a bottle of spring water. "Would any of you like anything?" he asked.

Beast Boy started to speak but a swift kick from Raven changed his mind. Sawchak noticed and shook his head. "It's alright, Raven. We can keep this informal." With that he grabbed a soda and tossed it to Beast Boy who caught it deftly.

Looking down at the soda, Beast Boy realized it was his favorite soft drink. As if he could read his mind, Sawchak said, "You guys are pretty famous. It would be sad if I didn't know a little about you."

He grabbed a file from the top of his desk and took a seat next to Starfire. "Let's see," he mumbled while flipping through papers, "you were bounced around a bit before coming here," he nodded his head, as if the absurd set of hoops they had needed to jump through made sense to him.

Starfire leaned over to see the file and began to recite their movements over the past few days. "Indeed. We first telephoned the heated line and then were told to send email to your offices of public relationships."

"And they, of course, delegated to internal affairs. They called you in and you ended up on Marsha's desk, she handed you off to Ray, and he sent you down to Sam." As he recited this rapid course, as if he'd seen it hundreds of times, Sawchak clicked open a pin and started scribbling notes in the paper's margins.

"And she finally got us out of internal affairs and to the consults office," Robin interjected, sensing that now they were finally dealing with somebody who had a shred of power in the fanfiction hierarchy.

The man laughed to himself. "Well, on behalf of the community, I'd like to apologize for what must have been an agonizing couple of days." He unscrewed his water and took a swig from it.

Before Robin had a chance to dive into business, Raven asked, "Mr. Sawchak, if we're going to be informal, do you have a first name?" It was an innocent enough question, but it was obvious to the Titans that Raven didn't like Sawchak.

The man laughed good-naturedly. "You don't like me very much, do you? Never mind. I apologize for my manners – but I promise – that's the last one you'll hear out of me. My name's Jefferson Sawchak, but feel free to call me Jeff. Just in case you're curious, there's no relationship."

Starfire giggled at that. Beast Boy had no clue what Sawchak was talking about, but the green elf had gotten used to that during the conversations over the past couple of days. Legal jargon made no sense to him and the changeling had quickly learned that Harvard Law as taught by Captain Crunch was unreliable at best. Besides, Starfire laughed at a lot of weird things.

"A laugh – that's good. And such a pretty sound," Sawchak smiled widely while nonchalantly looking away, affording Starfire the privacy to blush without being scrutinized. When his gaze fell on Raven, Sawchak sighed. "So I take it you're not big on 1800's jokes? Oh well. Let's get to work."

"Let's," Raven said, finally allowing a faint smile to creep onto her features.

Beast Boy leaned forward, propped his elbows on the table, and cradled his chin so that when he fell asleep he wouldn't drool on the table. Again.

Hours later they were still all sitting at the table. Remarkably, Beast Boy hadn't fallen asleep. Even if he couldn't understand everything, it was interesting. Sawchak seemed sympathetic but he was also adamant in his insistence that there was little legal ground on which to remove fanfiction about them.

"We aren't getting anywhere here," Sawchak sighed while loosening his tie and taking another sip of water. "I'm your lawyer; and, I'm telling you, freedom of speech is guaranteed through the first amendment."

Beast Boy finished off his soda while Cyborg responded. "We know that, man, but we'd just like a little a little privacy. Some of the fanfiction is just… too much."

"Right," Sawchak nodded as he drew yet another piece of paper from his folder. "Sam took down a few vague notes. I've got them right here – matchmaking to a disgusting degree, misrepresentation of actions, and blah, blah, blah. You're superheroes. The fine print in the brochure says that people will care about you, idolize you, and hate you on any given day."

Starfire shook her head. "I have never seen such a brochure, but I have read the contract we signed. No such message exists."

"He was speaking metaphorically, Starfire. And he's right," Raven said with resignation laced into her words.

"Oh. But there must be something we can do? An army cannot quarter warriors in a home without permission, citizens need not incriminate themselves, and we are protected from the searching and seizing. Is not privacy implied?" Starfire asked as she lapsed into silent thought.

Sawchak nodded. "The Supreme Court say no. It's even truer for you. Every single one of you is a public figure, a type of celebrity."

Robin ran his hand through his hair before saying, "What about the argument that it's libel and not freedom of speech?"

Sawchak's furrowed brow and sparkling eyes slipped behind an ineffable mask before he recovered. "You did your homework." Beast Boy let his head fall to the tabletop with a thud before mumbling "Duh."

Sawchak continued without missing a beat. "That's quite a claim. What has been written that's libel?"

Beast Boy lifted his head off the table and started reciting them from memory. Robin had told him to memorize them; Raven had made sure he did. "Robin joined Slade willingly because he wanted to destroy the city. Raven came to Earth so she could kill us all. Cyborg became a cyborg after he tried to kill himself. Starfire was a… personal… slave before she came to Earth. I killed my parents the first time I morphed. Terra… Terra became Slade's apprentice because I drove her off." Beast Boy tapered off and put his head back on the table. Of all the fanfiction, that one had been the worst.

"Okay, that might qualify as libel," Sawchak whistled once Beast Boy was finished. "That is, assuming that it isn't true. Don't get me wrong," Sawchak quickly added, seeing the Titans stir in agitation, "I don't believe it. But there's nothing to gauge your actions and words against. Public appearances are brief and _could _be staged."

"But they aren't," Robin growled as his masked eyes narrowed.

Sawchak shrugged off Robin's attitude and continued. "That's the argument that the public will make. Paranoia about your team is pretty high. You have a habit of getting us into trouble just by your presence. You get us out, but there are those who will argue that without your team around Jump City wouldn't need saving."

"So what can we do to change their minds?" Cyborg asked with a bitter smile.

"That is the question, isn't it?" Sawchak mused. His eyes lit up and his face broke out into a smile larger than the one he had worn when the Titans first entered. "I like you guys and would like to give you a hand. The legal ground is shaky, but we might be able to work something out. Call it… repayment." Catching the quizzical look Beast Boy was giving him, Sawchak elaborated.

"You probably don't remember me. It was… what – five and a half? Six years ago? Anyway, you saved my life and I know my sister will always owe you."

Sawchak rose from his chair and seemed to float to his desk. He hit a switch on a built in intercom and barked, "Madeline, can you draw up some files for me? I need everything from the black box down in storage and transcripts of all the recent Robert's court decisions." Turning back to the assembled heroes, Sawchak smiled. "If you come back in a couple of days, I think we'll have a solution ready."

ooooo

Sawchak worked quickly. In a mere two days, the Titans were back in his office. On this day, Sawchak was dressed in a solid white suit that hurt to look at and boasting a deep blue tie that drew attention to the calculating pools of his eyes. Resting in the center of the table was a thick packet of paper: a contract.

"Well," Sawchak sighed as he plopped into a chair adjacent to Raven, "it wasn't easy and it wasn't fun, but I think that this can help you out. I've already proofed it personally for legal technicalities and Madeline has been giving me a non-stop stream of information since you left."

A sheath of black light surrounded the packet as it levitated over to Raven. Sawchak's eyebrows rose as the epic landed in Raven's outstretched hands. Raven just took her index finger and started following the lines one at a time.

Sawchak shrugged lightly before redirecting his attention to the four Titans who were still listening to him. "I've never been one to stroke my own ego," he said in a barely concealed lie, "but just being able to write that was little less than magic on my part. The city was reluctant to sign. To endorse this contract," Sawchak gestured at the novel in Raven's hands, "is to tell all of Jump City that whatever five unbelievably powerful and influential people do in their free time is none of their business. But I eventually got the mayor to agree."

"What's the catch?" Robin leaned forward in his chair, sensing that there was something that Sawchak wasn't telling them.

"The catch," Sawchak smiled, "is non-existent. The mayor wanted some security but was eventually convinced that if you were an evil group of good-for-nothing-teens, you would have taken advantage of the city by now."

Sawchak spread his hands out on the tabletop. "What you see here," he said, "is all. The contract is all there is. There's a good deal of locution and a load of legal parlance, but, for all the fancy gibberish, the fact is that – aside from a few minor details and a period of gradual filtering – fanfiction about your team will stop. The contract is only temporary, but we can extend it later. Right?"

Starfire clapped her hands together enthusiastically and Sawchak gave a mock bow. Beast Boy could feel a great weight lift of his shoulders as Sawchak finished speaking. Fanfiction would stop. No more lies. No more anything. He'd have to find another hobby, though – assuming that Raven still trusted his ability to find his own hobby. That was a big assumption, and Beast Boy knew it. At the very least, maybe they would start talking again.

Sawchak leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Before he fell asleep, Sawchak told Raven to wake him if she had any questions. After that, the team empath continued to leaf her way through page upon page of the contract. At one point, Beast Boy wandered over and read a little over her shoulder. Once it began to feel as if there were little people inside his head trying to push his eyes out of their sockets, he went back to his own seat.

If Raven approved of the contract, the Titans would sign it. She was the one who could best understand the legal implications and she was the most avid about getting rid of fanfiction.

Raven hadn't mentioned it to anybody (at least not that Beats Boy knew of) but he knew that the stories involving her past and her father hurt. She gave so much to the city and they repaid her by speculating that she had wanted to kill them all along. The dark one. The creepy one. She wasn't to be trusted.

Beast Boy's head eventually fell onto his chest and he drifted into a restless sleep. He was rudely awakened by a sharp slap to the back of his head. Beast Boy flew forward and barely kept himself from colliding with the table's edge as Raven swept away from him. In front of him, Beast Boy saw the contract. In fine, almost calligraphic strokes, Beast Boy saw the names of all his teammates written next to large X's at the bottom of the very last page. Without reading the contract himself, Beast Boy grabbed a pen and placed his own signature on a line.

Sawchak snatched the pen from Beast Boy before affixing his own initials to the contract, proof that there was a witness and legal consult present. Taking up the contract, Sawchak spoke to the Titans. "It's been a treat working for you. A marked down bill will be sent from my office. Go have a little fun. You deserve it."

As the doors closed behind the Titans, Sawchak's face darkened. "You've earned all of it," he hissed. The man strode over to his desk before punching the intercom to life. "Madeline, call Stewart. Tell him I have a job for him."

* * *

**Author's Note:** As always, please tell me what you think. I appreciate it. Theories? Criticism? Praise? Shout 'em out. Until next time. 

Balkoth

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

Hello. I hope everybody who is reading is enjoying. Please, tell me what you think. And enjoy. I know I did. Without further adieu, I give you the third chapter of Smile for the Camera.

* * *

Smile for the Camera

After they had returned to the tower, Starfire suggested that they celebrate getting rid of fanfiction. The party had been more subdued than Beast Boy had expected. In the beginning, it looked like the party would be a happy one. Pizza arrived simmering in its own cheese-produced grease. That had been fun. The pizzas had disappeared in the usual show of hands, discarded toppings, and playful shoving that every pizza was treated to before its ultimate consumption. Cyborg even got everybody onto the couch to watch a science fiction movie. Beast Boy couldn't understand a single significant plot point, but the action scenes were beyond great.

Throughout all that, Raven could be seen every now and then drifting into her own thoughts, mumbled to herself, her brow creased in thought as though she was missing the final piece of a difficult jigsaw puzzle. Anybody unfortunate enough to try and draw the empath out of her mental sanctuary when she was caught in it was given a silent and dispassionate rebuttal. Except Beast Boy – Raven's response to his constant pestering and the slice of pizza he had waved under her nose provoked a much more involved response. Right after she kicked him Beast Boy knew that he would have an interesting bruise on his shin the next morning.

Raven didn't trust Sawchak. That much was obvious. Her concern was apparent on her face. Her carefully neutral expression warped into a worried frown every time she thought nobody was looking. Sawchak had appeared to do nothing but help them. Still, past experiences had taught the Titans that Raven was rarely wrong about people. That was why, as the party progressed, the energy began to bleed out of the event. The festive celebration became bogged down. They were all preparing for some hidden disaster. As the team trickled off to bed, Beast Boy sat stubbornly on the couch, determined to have a good time. Alone. He picked up the phone and ordered another pizza as the tower around him retired.

ooooo

The dawn broke across the horizon in a miserable display of faded pastels. Light fought in vain to penetrate the blanket of gray that the night had tucked securely into every corner. As the sun climbed up into the sky heavy clouds eclipsed it every other minute. The snow from the previous week was beginning to melt, leaving a mess of slush behind it that couldn't decide if it wanted to look ugly, freeze the roads, or both.

Beast Boy was lying on the couch, one arm thrown over his eyes to block out the rare rays of light that were struggling through the windows and into his face. A pizza box lay on his stomach, the cardboard closest to the uneaten food stained as if left in the rain. Beast Boy rolled onto his side, dumping the soiled cardboard onto the carpet.

The doors to the living room slid open with an almost inaudible hiss. Raven walked down the stairs taking in the muted television and the boy sprawled haphazardly across the sofa, a bit of pizza crust hanging loosely from his hand. Shaking her head, Raven swept off to prepare her morning tea. As an after-thought, Raven waved her hand behind her. A thin blanket near Beast Boy's feet was shrouded in a rich black aura as it levitated off the sofa, spread itself out, and covered Beast Boy.

Beast Boy shook from the cold as the blanket first touched him. As the frigid aura around the fabric drew away, Beast Boy grabbed the blanket and snuggled into the warmed folds. Raven rolled her eyes and placed a kettle on the stove.

Raven tended to the kettle in silence, sparing a moment every now and then to glance at Beast Boy. They hadn't been on the best terms over the past few weeks. As much as Raven hated to admit it (mainly because it would become ammo against her for life as soon as she did) she might have been a little hard on Beast Boy. The rift between the two had been widening a little every day since their argument and Raven was having a hard time apologizing. Being nice to Beast Boy while he was sleeping didn't seem to be enough.

Raven was drawn out of her musings by a low whistle that started softly and gradually crescendoed to a shrill screech. Raven removed the kettle from the stove quickly to stop the noise. She poured herself a cup of the scalding liquid and fetched a tea packet. Raven watched Beast Boy over her shoulder as she walked out of the room, tea in hand. The sleeping boy rolled over again and threw the blanket off as the doors slid shut. It fanned out in the air and ballooned down over the pizza box.

Raven sighed and walked through the halls on her way to the roof. She could use some quiet time to meditate. To think.

* * *

The wind on top of Titans Tower was a creeping entity, moving slowly across the exposed surface. The volleyball net that Cyborg had never gotten around to taking down fluttered in the steady stream of cold air, the last leaf of summer hanging desperately to a tree that had long since shed all its foliage. 

Raven was levitating about a foot off the ground, her cloak fluttering next to her. If Raven noticed the flailing cloak or how the feeling was gradually leaving her extremities she ignored it.

The only sounds appeared to be the flapping of the net and Raven's cloak. However, three words were being spoken softly, drifting away in the wind before they could reach human ears. They were repeated again and again in a steady mantra while Raven meditated. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

Raven's eyes snapped open and she took in a sharp breath. Her eyes landed on a small boat that was floating across the inky bay toward the tower. Raven sighed and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath through her nose until her lungs stung from the cold. When Raven's eyes opened again she was glaring dangerously at the approaching vessel.

Raven brandished her hand and repeated her mantra as the tower was briefly washed in black light, disabling the proximity alarm. The others didn't need to be woken up because of this. Raven repeated the mysterious words again and vanished from sight. All that was left of the young half-demon was a black raven that was flying across the bay.

ooooo

Beast Boy woke up slowly. He could hear movement around him and it took a while for it to register that the noise was mechanical. And not Cyborg mechanical, Beast Boy could pick out that sound subconsciously. Beast Boy cracked one eye open slowly. He wasn't sure what he'd expected but it wasn't what he saw.

There was a young man, probably only four or five years older than Beast Boy, sitting in what was usually Raven's reading spot. That would put him around his early to mid-twenties. He didn't look dangerous. His stringy limbs, pale complexion, and white-blond hair made him look like a link of uncooked spaghetti. Beast Boy's stomach growled loudly when he finished that thought.

"You're up," the man chirped from Raven's reading perch. "I got some great footage while you were out." The man patted an expensive XL2 Canon camera that was resting in his lap. Beast Boy bolted up. His eyes widened in horror as the verbal cattle prod struck home: there was a complete stranger taping him while he slept.

"Don't get too excited," the man said, obviously mistaking Beast Boy's sudden energy for enthusiasm. "Your team wants to talk a little first. I guess we got here sooner than you guys expected. They're in that room across the hall, down the stairs and on the left," he said, probably without realizing that he'd given directions to Robin's bedroom. What was going on?

Beast Boy took a cleansing breath and tried to sort out what was going on. He forced himself to relax and felt the tenseness abandon his muscles. Whatever was going on, it wasn't a physical threat. That meant he needed to be smart, play it cool. Beast Boy muttered a small thanks to the guy before walking just a little too quickly out of the living room.

Beast Boy reached Robin's room and felt a little more of his reality slip through his fingers. There were two women sitting out front, each carrying a camera identical to the man who Beast Boy had just left in the living room. One of them smiled cheerily at him when he came around the corner. That just made Beast Boy more nervous.

"Don't worry. You're expected," the cheery woman said while adjusting her position against the wall.

Beast Boy managed a mute nod and knocked on Robin's door. The opened just enough to admit an arm that grabbed Beast Boy's collar and yanked him inside before he could even articulate the shriek that was forcing its way out of his mouth. As soon as the door snapped shut, Raven released her hold on Beast Boy's uniform.

Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg were all gathered around the large table that more often than not was swallowed by paper, news clippings, and various gadgets. Today the only thing on it was a large stack of paper, neatly highlighted in blue, yellow, pink, and a poisonous looking red.

"What happened?" Beast Boy hissed. "What are all those camera people doing around? And _why_ was that guy watching me while I was asleep?"

Raven walked over to the table and gestured at the stack of paper on it. She didn't seem to possess the energy necessary to fully form words.

"What is that?" Beast Boy asked, his confusion and now fully revealed panic taking over his voice and forcing it to a volume that was a little too loud and a pitch that was a few octaves too high.

"It," Cyborg growled, "is what we all signed yesterday. I pulled this version off the Internet." As Beast Boy got closer to the document he realized that the highlighting was actually colored ink. This was a paper printout.

Beast Boy was about to ask about it but Robin beat him to the punch.

"Sawchak, or at least somebody in his office, leaked it to somebody. It's been changing hands for at least eleven hours. The blue's everything about getting rid of fanfiction."

"What's that have to do with the cameras?" Beast Boy whined.

"The yellow," Robin continued as if he didn't hear Beast Boy, "is a lengthy apology about the ban. It says we meant no harm or disrespect. We just need a little space." Robin didn't sound like he didn't mean harm.

"I still don't get why…" Beast Boy closed his mouth when Cyborg stared him down.

"The pink is a promise to make it up to everybody," Robin spat the words out. The bitter taste of the words hung in the air for a moment before being absorbed into Beast Boy's skin, making him shiver from a cold far below zero Kelvin. "That's why we have cameras everywhere, Beast Boy. We're making up for canceling fanfiction."

Beast Boy let his mind wrap around the idea. His panic started to edge away. Now that he knew why the cameras were here, it could maybe be fun. Raven surveyed him and Beast Boy got the eerie impression that she knew exactly what he'd been thinking. Just to be safe, Beast Boy tried to stop himself from thinking.

"Don't get too excited. There's a catch," she said. Raven gestured at the document and Beast Boy took a closer look at the color-coding. The blue canceling fanfiction and the yellow apologizing for it were everywhere. The pink and the red he'd noticed earlier were scattered sparsely, almost conspiratorially, throughout. Beast Boy took a closer look at the pink and discovered that the wording was a little funny and the thoughts didn't always make sense when read in context, though the disguising had been well-executed. As cryptic as the pink was, the red was even worse. Single sentences mostly, some of the thoughts inserted in the middle of other sentences and referenced back to an article or a previous passage or a Court decision. Beast Boy couldn't get anything out of the red other than that Raven probably hadn't noticed it earlier. And she'd been the only person to read the contract.

"The red is a promise," Raven whispered. "If we don't honor the contract we signed – if we don't do what we're told – then fanfiction comes back, we never get a chance to stop it again…"

"And the unfinished documentary comes to a theater near everyone." Cyborg finished with a bitter smile.

"So… that's really bad," Beast Boy said after a long, silent, minute. It was taking him a while to get what was going on. Fanfiction was dead, but it could come back if they didn't cooperate with the camera crew. "Can't we stop it… here and now? Not make a movie? Making it up to people is fine, but we can't let complete strangers stalk us!"

"We don't have a choice, man," Cyborg interrupted from across the table. "I looked into where this thing has hit. It looks like every authority cite on us has it. If we back out now, we're proving that we have something to hide. It would also be illegal. We were tricked into this thing, but there isn't much we can do anymore. We can't prove anything. We were outmaneuvered."

Beast Boy's shoulders slumped. On their terms, this could be fun. But there was no way that they could let Sawchak bully them into being his science project. It just couldn't happen. It couldn't. But it had. It was.

Beast Boy shot a scathing look at Raven. This was all her fault. If she'd caught this before they signed then there wouldn't be a problem. Raven caught his eyes and matched his glare with one of her own.

"Even with it highlighted in front of you, you don't understand. Think about that before you blame anybody. I was the only person who read it!"

Starfire positioned herself between Beast Boy and Raven and broke their glaring match. "Please, friends, there is no one to blame. We must not fight. If the people here must make a movie of us, let them see that everything is well. The Jefferson Sawchak deceived us, but he has not yet beaten us. Let us not make it easier for him." Beast Boy backed down.

"So, Raven," Cyborg picked up where they had left off before Beast Boy's entrance, "do you think the camera crew knows what happened?"

Raven shook her head slowly. "I talked with all five of them on the ferry and I think only one of them knows. He isn't telling anybody, though." Beast Boy's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Raven had been on the ferry with them?

"All right – here's the plan" Robin finally said. "The camera crew doesn't know anything and the contract is too widely spread to renege on it. When we leave here, we act like nothing's wrong. No matter what, don't cause problems. I've gotten… a friend… to look at the language for us. He says that if we play our cards right we have some editing privileges. Let's not blow those, we might need them."

"Glorious!" Starfire exclaimed. "We shall not let these people interfere with our lives. This shall be complete before we are aware of it."

As he exited Robin's room, Beast Boy was beginning to feel the infectious influence of Starfire's optimism. Beast Boy headed back to the living room. As he passed the women from earlier, he waved at the cheery one. She nodded in his direction and readied her camera. When Raven walked out of the room, the cheery woman got to her feet. Raven had said there were five cameras. If they each had their own cameraperson following them around, he thought his would be in the living room.

The doors slid open with their usual silent hiss. The man Beast Boy had seen before his hasty retreat was sitting on the couch with his hands folded neatly in his lap and his camera on top of a tripod. Beast Boy noticed that there was a piece of food squeezed in between the man's unusually pale skin.

Beast Boy snorted as he hopped down the steps.

"That wasn't very smart," the changeling said as he walked across the room. "If you want to hide stolen food when somebody comes in," he continued, "use this." Beast Boy picked up his favorite pillow, a worn blue cushion that the other Titans never touched. Its underside was stained from various foods. Beast Boy grabbed the zipper and gave it a vicious tug. Inside, where there should have been stuffing, was a Tupperware container with a piece of cherry pie Cyborg was convinced Silkie had stolen, a few strips of tofu, and one of the only edible things Starfire ever cooked.

The spaghetti man's eyebrows shot up into his low hanging bangs as he saw the pillow and the stash inside of it. Beast Boy saw a red light on top of the man's camera and fought to keep his face neutral. There weren't going to be many secrets in the tower when this was over.

Beast Boy pulled out the container and pried the lid off. Fishing a dirtied plastic fork from between the couch cushions, Beast Boy took a bite of the pie. It was just as good as the first day it had been made. The fact that it was supposed to be Cyborg's somehow made it better.

"So, what's your name?" Beast Boy asked around a mouthful of pie.

"Andrew – no Andy. No. No. My name's Drew," the man finally managed to supply a name. Beast Boy hid his smile by forcing another bite of pie into his mouth. This guy was petrified. He'd probably only ever seen pictures and news coverage of Beast Boy.

"Beast Boy," Beast Boy supplied unnecessarily. "So, you're my…" Beast Boy decided against using the term stalker and waited for a more appropriate word to supply itself.

"I'm your shadow," Drew said when he sensed Beast Boy's hesitation. "I'll talk to you, probably interview you, but the idea is that you just live your life. I can't tell you how special it is to see you in person. I mean, the last time I saw you, you were crashing through my living room window. It was a few years back… I giant fire monster…" Beast Boy nodded absently while putting another fork-full of pastry into his mouth.

He had heard all of this before. Beast Boy enjoyed the attention from fans, but he never knew how to react to them. Especially the crazier ones. Drew seemed to be on the crazier side of things.

"Are you going to eat that?" Beast Boy asked after Drew finished, pointing at the chocolate melting in Drew's hand.

"Oh," Drew almost dropped the chocolate. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have taken anything from here. You guys deserve better than that…"

Beast Boy pointed his fork at Drew to cut him off. Only afterward did he notice how threatening it looked. Beast Boy lowered the fork and said; " I don't care that much. Everybody needs to eat some time. I just wanted to know if you would eat it or not." Drew looked like he was caught in a floodlight. Beast Boy decided to ignore it and hope Drew could shake his shock off.

"Next time," Beast Boy tugged his pillow shut and placed it back on the couch so the stains weren't visible, "use this." The doors opened and Beast Boy went back to eating his pie. Big mistake.

"Yo, grass-stain! I know that isn't my pie. Not the pie you swore you hadn't taken!"

Beast Boy turned slowly to see Cyborg stalking down the stairs toward him. Beast Boy barely registered the forty-year-old guy with thick red curls who was behind his mechanical friend. The camera also went unnoticed.

"Um… no?" Beast Boy offered while placing the Tupperware on the couch and backing away with his hands in front of him as if he feared getting shot.

"Oh, no, it's too late for that." Then Cyborg lunged at him.

* * *

Author's Note: I don't usually bite. So, tell me what you think. Much thanks. 


	4. Chapter 4

Wow. It's been a while. Sorry about the wait. For any who do not know, school sucks. Those who doubt this fact, you are wrong. Well, I won't take too much time. Hopefully, the next update will be sooner. Anyway, to my readers - enjoy. And to my reviewers - thank you so much.

* * *

Smile for the Camera

The Titans were all gathered in the Evidence Room. It was the only place Stewart, the man in charge of the camera crew, could be convinced needed to stay undocumented. There would probably be repercussions for the gathering. There was something about Stewart that made it obvious that people who made him angry regretted it.

Stewart was Robin's shadow, and, according to Raven, the only crewmember who knew the truth behind the documentary currently in progress. The old man's danger wasn't in his form. He was a diminutive man who looked like he would fit nicely into the nearest garbage shute. That could have just been because of the abnormal shape his spine had adopted as he aged. Still, there was something about the way he held himself – the rigid angle of his neck, the confident clicking as his dress-shoes hit the floor, the predatory glint in his eyes – that hinted at a nerve of steel and a ruthless streak that had taken over the man's more human side long ago. The skin that sagged from Stewart's face and from under his chin was not crafted by laughter or smiles. He looked like he'd been born wearing a scowl and a glare and had only recently gotten rid of them.

"What were you two thinking!" Robin exploded as he paced between Control Freak's remote and one of Slade's masks. He didn't bother keeping his voice down. He didn't need to; the room was lined with sonic-dampers. "The plan was to not act up. We can't afford stunts like that," Robin continued.

Beast Boy crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back into a tank of ricin that had almost been dumped into the city's water supply three years ago by a failed Wayne Enterprises chemist. Beast Boy still had bottled water somewhere in his closet because of that fiasco. The powder had stirred up paranoia all over the city.

"The 'plan' was to live our lives," Beast Boy retaliated. "We can't let Sawchak or these cameras scare us. That's what he wants." Robin glared at Beast Boy. The changeling shifted to hide the involuntary shiver that his leader could draw out of him on command. A documentary would take time to finish, and Beast Boy saw no point in playing pretend the entire time. It wasn't worth it, and he wasn't a good enough actor.

Robin abandoned his pacing and stalked toward Beast Boy.

Starfire blocked Robin's path, saving the elf from his irate leader's wrath. "Please, Robin, the actions of friend Beast Boy were unwise, but he makes "the point". Our actions must appear natural." Robin heaved a deep sigh, opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again.

Raven slid out of the niche she'd been nestled in. Beast Boy jumped at her sudden appearance. In truth, he'd forgotten that Raven was even in the room. Instead of the verbal attack he'd expected from her, Raven just wandered to Cyborg's side.

"You were both idiots," Raven said evenly, the faintest phantom of annoyance laced in her tone. "You still are and, unfortunately, we can't fix that. There is no point in being upset," Raven directed that part at Robin. "The more guarded we are, the more suspicious the city gets. If we act for the entire time Sawchak's crew is here, we will invite speculation."

Beast Boy had expected Robin to argue. He didn't. Raven was making perfect sense. The only objection came from Cyborg, and that was just a playful shove in response to her cracks on Beast Boy's and his intelligence. Raven smirked for a moment before regaining control of her physiognomy.

Beast Boy took a timid step toward the door. When nobody moved to stop him, he assumed the meeting was over. The others fell into file. As the door hissed open, a gruff voice layered in sand and coated in congealed tar floated to Beast Boy's ears.

Stewart was standing in front of the redhead who had been following Cyborg earlier. He was speaking in an unfortunate rasp that belayed his history as a long-time smoker, just in case the nicotine patch just barely visible at the base of his neck wasn't enough of an indication.

"… Ah, they're back. Whatever took place in the Evidence Room is anybody's guess. Maybe they'll enlighten us." Stewart was at Beast Boy's side before the changeling even knew the old man had moved. One bony arm was around his shoulder in a false show of congeniality. Beast Boy had to quell the shiver the old man's touch awakened. Beast Boy had thought that only Robin and megalomaniacs who suffered from insomnia could make him so nervous just by existing. Apparently he was wrong.

"So, Beast Boy, what were you and the Titans doing in there for the past fifty minutes?" The hand on Beast Boy's shoulder jostled him in a friendly ruffle, disguising the quick gouging movement of the senior's clubbed fingers.

Beast Boy disentangled himself from Stewart's grip with a rouge smile. "Oh, just looking at a few leads. You didn't miss anything," Beast Boy assured Stewart, intent on appearing friendly. "We just needed to keep up with a few things. Cyborg might be able to tell you more. I… I, uh, never really pay attention."

Beast Boy felt eyes on his back. Raven was looking at him. As soon as he thought about what he'd said, Beast Boy could have kicked himself: he'd just said on camera that he, a superhero, didn't pay attention to his job. Stewart's eyes sparkled dangerously as Beast Boy finished speaking. He didn't push the subject, however.

"All right, we'll check in with Cyborg in a bit. Would now be a good time to pull you for an interview?" Stewart continued his questioning, barely missing a millisecond.

"No," Beast Boy answered quickly. "I'll talk to Drew later. Now, I need to go set up the training course." Stewart's eyes lost their glint at the mention of Drew's name.

As Beast Boy turned away he caught Raven's eyes. She gave him a half-nod. Beast Boy started walking away from Stewart as quickly as he dared without seeming too rushed. It was technically Raven's turn to set up the course, but he hadn't had a better excuse. Stewart had already latched onto Robin and begun hounding him with questions. Robin's paranoia about doing or saying too much seemed much more reasonable now that Beast Boy had met Stewart. The man was a plague of nervousness and didn't appear picky about his victims.

"He's going to kill me," Drew griped as he fell into step behind Beast Boy.

"Why's that?" Beast Boy asked once they were out of earshot.

Drew laughed to himself quietly, "I'm not really supposed to talk to any of you." Drew's voice slipped into a very convincing imitation of Stewart's. "Being observed changes actions and events enough without the bonus of you running off your mouths. You don't have anything to say; you're opinions regarding the Titans are unimportant. So, do us all a favor, and hold your tongues."

Beast Boy turned to see Drew stooped over and brandishing his finger at the air as if to skewer it. The ever-present camera with its watchful red eye winked at Beast Boy from under one of Drew's armpits.

"That's pretty good," Beast Boy complemented as he struggled to turn his laugh into a cough. He was only partially successful, and instead a muffled snort came out through his nose. "You should hear me do Robin sometime…" Beast Boy stopped himself before he went too far. The camera was recording footage that could be used in a real documentary. He needed to be careful. They all did.

Drew straightened and fished the camera out of his armpit as he started to catch up with Beast Boy. "I'd like that sometime. I'm sure it's a real hit with the team."

Beast Boy couldn't help himself from laughing this time. He couldn't even bother to hide it. "Not really. I mean, sure, I get a chuckle every now and then, but the others don't usually respond. Well, not unless everything back-fires."

They reached the elevator in silence. Drew looked like he wanted to talk but kept glancing at the camera. He was probably worried about when Stewart started editing all the footage together and saw he had been disobeyed. Drew didn't want to get too badly hurt.

The walk to the obstacle course was drowned in the same silence. The only sound was the crunch of half-frozen ice underfoot and the whistling of the wind as it sailed across the bay.

Beast Boy punched the computer terminal to life after entering a quick seven-digit code. Drew walked across the inactive course, his camera scanning the area and the lens moving forward or backward as he artfully documented the area.

Beast Boy rubbed his hands together and let a rattling breath slip between his chattering teeth. He jumped when he noticed Drew had moved up beside him.

"Why are you setting up the course?" Drew asked as he trained the lens on Beast Boy.

"I'm not that early," Beast Boy said. "We usually run the obstacle course every couple of days, around five usually. It's a lot of fun and we need to stay on top of our form."

Drew shook his head and the camera moved with him. "I mean," he clarified, "why are you setting it up when it's Raven's turn?"

Beast Boy could only stand rooted to the spot as Drew turned his camera to a laminated calendar attached to the main computer hub. In bright red letters, under the day's date, was Raven's name. Beast Boy took Drew's brief distraction to do some quick thinking. Nothing he could think of could really explain why he was setting up without blatantly lying or telling the complete truth. Regardless, Beast Boy decided to take a non-existent middle ground.

"Well," Beast Boy started as the camera came back to his face. Luckily the cold had kept the nervous sweat from becoming too obvious. "I owe Raven a favor. Not a favor, really, but…"

"But what?"

"Well, Raven did the dishes for me after Starfire made us a Tamaranian feast for dinner. I had a bad reaction to something in the food and Raven cleaned up for me." That wasn't technically a lie. Beast Boy had a very bad reaction to the food. He'd spent a lot of time in the bathroom. Of course, Raven hadn't done the dishes for him.

Drew's brow scrunched in thought as he searched for another question. "So, when you guys help each other out it's never to just help? There's always a trade-off?"

Beast Boy blanched. He was digging them all into a hole and he was doing it in less than a day.

"No! No," Beast Boy he said more calmly. "If we help each other, say in a fight or something, it's just to help each other out. We care a lot about each other. I mean, we're like each other's family. We're all we really have now. But we're also roommates, and sometimes we get on each other's nerves." Beast Boy thought that he'd sounded rather diplomatic, even if he'd also sounded like something from a cheesy teen magazine.

Drew's eyebrows shot up into his hair. Fortunately, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven chose that moment to appear with their entourages. Drew didn't get to follow-up.

Their usual training commenced as best as it could. Throughout it all, five cameras watched the Titans. The glaring red eyes followed Beast Boy's every move out on the course, recorded his every word from the sidelines, and succeeded in making him very nervous. When Robin called an end to practice early, Beast Boy decided that he preferred talking to Drew. At least Drew acted human.

ooooo

Beast Boy swiped a hand across his brow to remove the sweat. The basement was very hot. With a wrench in one hand and pipes crisscrossing overhead, Beast Boy continued his work on the hot-water heater. Drew sat off to the side, sweating in silence. Steam leaked into the room as Beast Boy loosened the pipes.

"So, why exactly…"

"Shh!" Beast Boy hissed before Drew could continue his question. "Sound travels through the pipes," Beast Boy whispered. Drew eyed Beast Boy skeptically but didn't say anything.

Beast Boy finished his tinkering and set the wrench down.

The basement was cluttered with boxes. Some of them were important; the rest held useless junk that nobody had bothered to unpack when they moved in and nobody had the heart to throw out. Lights dangled from the ceiling, flickering and flaring as power coursed through the exhausted bulbs.

"Is it safe to talk now?" Drew asked with a smile.

Beast Boy jumped before looking over at Drew. He'd almost forgotten that he had company down here.

"Sure," Beast Boy answered after a pause. "The pipes don't actually carry sound. I just needed to concentrate."

Drew nodded. "So, why exactly were you sabotaging the hot-water heater?"

Beast Boy rubbed the back of his neck. The more he thought about it, the more impulsive it seemed. There wasn't much he could do about it now.

"Well," Beast Boy drew out the word, "you saw us practicing, but Robin ended practice early. That means that he's in the gym right now. And when he finishes working out he usually takes a shower."

"So, this is one of those pranks you told me about? The ones nobody thinks are funny?" Drew lowered the camera to look directly at Beast Boy.

"I wouldn't say nobody…" Beast Boy trailed off. This had definitely been impulsive. "Anyway," Beast Boy fired up, a mischievous grin stretched across his face, "the way this is set up, the next person to use the shower will get about five minutes of hot water."

Beast Boy picked up a stack of buckets he'd carried down earlier and started placing them under the loosened pipes.

"Then, the reserve water will run out and new water will get pumped up. When that happens, the buckets catch the hot water. When there isn't any hot water in the pipes, the shower will start using cold water."

Drew frowned behind his camera. Beast Boy was too busy remembering the last time he'd used this prank to notice. Cyborg and he had set it up on April Fool's Day the first year that the team had been together. Robin hadn't forgiven Beast Boy for a long time after that.

Beast Boy placed the last bucket, surveyed his handiwork, and started sprinting up the stairs. Once he reached the basement door, Beast Boy morphed into a fly and slipped under the door. He opened the door moments later and ushered Drew out.

"You do this a lot?" Drew asked.

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow. "Pranks? Yeah," Beast Boy answered as he walked down the hallway.

Beast Boy passed the bathroom door and allowed himself a wicked smile when he heard running water on the other side. Then he kept walking, nodding to the cheery blond woman who'd waved at him earlier.

"You mentioned that your pranks backfire," Drew smirked as he followed Beast Boy to his room. Beast Boy reached his door and waited for the hydraulics to open it.

Beast Boy stepped through the threshold and into his room. It passed as a place of inhabitance only because of the bunk bed that surfaced from the filth near the window. The room was covered in dirty clothes, moldy food, and a few clumps of green cat hair. If there was a floor, nobody alive could see it.

"Some of them back-fire," Beast Boy answered as he waded over to his bed. Usually the smell in Beast Boy's room was unbearable. Today it was just cold; he'd thrown his window open to vent the near-toxic fumes. "But not this one," Beast Boy finished as he sat on the top bunk, waiting.

Drew just watched Beast Boy and waited with him. It didn't take long for realization to dawn on the changeling's features. His eyes exploded in brilliant emerald fireworks, dancing with shock and horror, as he looked at Drew.

Drew was his shadow; he had followed Beast Boy everywhere. Stewart was Robin's shadow. Stewart would have been the person outside if Robin had been using the shower. The person sitting outside had been the cheery blond, and the cheery blond had been somebody else's shadow. She'd been Raven's shadow.

Beast Boy sprung off his bed and lunged for the door. Drew barely had time to get out of his way. Beast Boy didn't wait for the door to open. As Beast Boy got to the door he turned into a cockroach and scurried under the door before all six feet had even been properly formed.

The door opened moments later as Drew stepped into the hallway. The only evidence of Beast Boy's passing were the faint hoof marks he'd left in his haste. Drew sprinted down the hall, keeping his camera steady. This was pure gold.

A startled yell shook the entire tower. The hot water had run out. Almost immediately after Raven screamed, there was a crashing noise as she jumped out of the frigid trap Beast Boy had set.

Drew rounded the corner and saw Beast Boy screech to a halt and morph into his human form. The boy looked terrified.

Beast Boy felt terrified. Raven was already mad at him. Ever since their argument, Raven had been waiting for an excuse to make Beast Boy miserable. The prank had been meant for Robin, but there was no way that Raven would give him enough time to explain that.

The bathroom door opened just as Beast Boy decided to turn around. Raven stepped out, her eyes blazing with deadly white light, and a towel hastily wrapped around her body. Raven's hair hung in a wet mass around her head, plastered to her skin and drawing attention to the blue tint invading her pale lips.

"Beast Boy," Raven growled dangerously as she spotted the changeling. Black light swarmed around Raven and shot toward Beast Boy. He turned himself into a turtle and retreated into his shell as the magic impacted. His entire reptilian body was attacked and thrown into convulsions. He felt like he was being squeezed, a water balloon some kid was determined to pop. He recognized it as the same sensation that had overcome him when Raven and Mumbo had forced him to morph.

Beast Boy fought through the pain and turned back into his relatively human form. The pressure abated and he was thrown against the wall.

"What," Raven said through clenched teeth, "Were. You. Thinking!" With each word, Beast Boy felt himself being pushed harder against the wall.

Beast Boy opened his mouth to speak but was forced to close it again when he was slammed further into the wall. Raven didn't want him to say anything. She just needed to vent. Raven's powers continued to swarm around her as she held Beast Boy in place.

The fire in Raven's eyes wasn't as strong as Beast Boy was used to. Come to think of it, Raven hadn't lost control like this in months. Power continued to fluctuate around Raven as stray bolts jumped out and caught Drew and the cheery blonde's cameras. In a shower of sparks, both cameras were destroyed.

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**Author's Note**: Remember, tell me what you think. If you enjoy the story, please tell me. My ego can always use the help. If you're particularly bold, you can even tell me what you like specifically. But more than praise, I'm interested in critique. What was good and why, what was bad and why. Stuff like that. So, please, review.

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	5. Chapter 5

Well, Balkoth is back. And I updated earlier than last time. Ha, take that course load! Anyway, thank you to all readers: it's great that you enjoy Smile for the Camera enough to come back for another helping. To reviewers new and old: thank you. Seriously, it means a lot to hear back from other readers and writers. Without further delay, enjoy.

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Smile for the Camera

Beast Boy stretched his hands out in front of him until his shoulders gave a satisfactory pop. The doors to the Evidence Room slid shut behind him as he continued to shake out his limbs. Beast Boy frowned at Raven.

"Did you have to be so convincing?" Beast Boy whined as he scrubbed vigorously at his leg in an attempt to revive the limb. Raven hadn't only given him a beating: her power was still as hyperborean as ever.

"Who was acting?" Raven shot back. "I should kill you for pulling that stunt." Raven crossed her arms protectively across her chest, as if remembering the frigid water Beast Boy's prank had dumped on her. Or the trouble he had caused by discovering fanfiction. Or any other time that he proven just how immature and burdensome he could be.

"You weren't supposed to take a shower!" Beast Boy replied. "It was supposed to be Robin," the changeling jabbed in Robin's direction. Robin crossed his arms across his chest in an action that mimicked Raven. Beast Boy realized what he had just said and gave Robin a sheepish grin. It didn't work.

"So," Cyborg cut in before the impending conflict could escalate, "how many times do y'all think we can disappear in here before it causes problems?" The other four Titans turned as one to stare at their mechanical friend.

He shrugged in response. "I was just curios. Didn't know it would be a stupid question."

"It isn't that," Raven sighed. The empath started shaking her head and silently berating herself. After a moment Raven's eyes opened again. "None of us thought that far ahead. We can't hole up in here every few hours. I don't think Stewart will allow us to."

Robin vented a mirthless laugh and started his usual pacing routine. "He won't. Stewart's furious about the cameras, Raven. You shouldn't have done that. I don't know what he'll do, but I'm positive we won't like it." Robin's pacing eventually made Beast Boy dizzy and he looked away. They were effectively prisoners in their own home. They were being shadowed by people who weren't allowed to talk to them and constantly watched for even the slightest indication that they were human.

Beast Boy slumped against the ricin tank and allowed gravity to pull him to the ground. The changeling pulled his legs toward his chest and let his crossed arms rest on his knees.

"If we can no longer meet here, how are we to communicate without being monitored?" Starfire broke the momentary silence.

"Morse code?" Beast Boy suggested miserably as his head slumped onto his forearms.

"With how well it went last time? You're kidding, B," Cyborg shot down the idea with a wave of his hand. Beast Boy had never learned how to say more than "Where is the remote?" and Starfire, if caught off guard, still thought the tapping was a Tamaranian invasion drum. That hadn't ended well.

"What about notes?" Cyborg suggested. That idea was similarly dismantled. Notes were too easy to intercept. Intercept. The further the conversation progressed, the more it sounded like the Titans were fighting a war. Secret code was also thrown out – it was too obvious. Inside jokes and references came up, but a single fanatic could bring it all tumbling down around them.

Beast Boy tried to stay focused, he really did, but the elf found himself drifting away from the conversation. Their shadows weren't supposed to talk to them. Drew was pretty talkative. There was a chance that the other shadows were too.

"Guys," Beast Boy started, "have you gotten…" the rest of one of Beast Boy's rare strokes of genius was broken off by a series of painful mechanical shrieks. The door to the Evidence Room was being forced open. Metal scratched against metal as the threshold to the room parted in a phenomenon that Cyborg had always insisted was impossible.

A gnarled hand with clubbed fingers came around the edge of the door first. That was followed by a back and shoulder. An entire body. When Stewart finished forcing open the secure doors, ignoring the thunderous alarms his entry had set off, he glared dangerously at Raven and Beast Boy.

"You completely destroyed two cameras worth of footage!" the old man seethed. Far from letting his physical exhaustion affect his tirade, Stewart managed to use the imposing heaving of his shoulders, the sweat trickling down his weathered skin, and the extra rasping of his tar-encrusted lungs to his advantage. Indeed, not a single person from his crew had tried to stop Stewart and not a single one of the Titans had the nerve to make him leave. Stewart looked like the most likely candidate in the world to suffer a stroke and a heart attack at the same time. He even looked like he was trying to set a speed record.

"Two cameras!" Stewart exploded again. "That's hours of documentation on forty percent of you! She destroyed my cameras on purpose," Stewart jabbed his finger in Raven's direction but missed by a few feet. His eyes were crossed and his balance was teetering from one point to another on a whim.

"Sir, you do not look well," Starfire started toward Stewart who just snarled at her to stay back.

"Please," Starfire tried again. "You are not being reasonable; you require rest."

Stewart heaved a loud series of coughs and Starfire jumped back. It quite literally sounded like the man had eaten nails for breakfast and was having a hard time keeping them down.

"She sabotaged my crew. She broke the contract," Stewart wheezed the accusation around another bout of coughs.

Robin jumped in. The last thing they needed was for this to end in such a spectacular explosion.

"Raven didn't destroy the cameras on purpose," Robin insisted. Beast Boy could see the cogs in Robin's brain clicking together as he approached the only plausible conclusion to that statement. The good news was that maybe Raven would have a new person to be angry at.

Beast Boy shook his head violently while stealing a glance at the four cameramen. None of them were holding their cameras. Apparently, they didn't want to show the document's narrator as a complete maniac.

Beast Boy glanced at Raven. Her face was a perfect mask. She could have been having the best time of her life or plotting how to kill them all and make it look like an accident. There was nothing there, no way of telling. Beast Boy saw her nod, slowly.

"She can't always control her powers," Robin finished with an obvious flinch that nonetheless went unnoticed. "She's getting a lot better, but there has been a lot going on recently. Beast Boy's prank just pushed her over the edge."

Stewart took a deep breath and straightened up. The madness was leaving his eyes and being replaced by the signature predatory glint that made Beast Boy feel like wherever he was it wasn't far enough away. Stewart took a deep breath before speaking.

"I contacted Jefferson. He's sending new cameras. We'll start filming again first thing tomorrow. He'd like to talk to you, though; he's in the living room." Stewart turned on his heel and limped out of the room, probably to lie down for a while.

"Wait a minute," Cyborg said as Stewart left the room, the alarms still shrilling in the background. "Sawchak's in the tower?"

The alarms had died down but Beast Boy still couldn't get the ringing out of his ears; Beast Boy's senses were more acute than a normal human's. That meant that prolonged alarms gave him a headache.

The doors to the living room slid open as the Titans approached. Sawchak's enlarged face was clearly visible on the computer monitor. The Sawchak frowning down at them, as if they were mere insects to his cruel design, was a far cry from the energetic, charismatic, man who had "helped" them with fanfiction. Beast Boy felt like a small rodent trapped between a wall and a starved cat.

The bright colors that Sawchak had worn on their first two meetings were gone. The man was swathed in clothing so dark, bland, and hopeless that Beast Boy could feel his shoulders sag in defeat. Sawchak had thrown his energy in reverse, taking away hope now instead of inspiring it. It was almost magical. Cold brown eyes passed over Beast Boy and made him shiver. They reminded him of iced coffee and subsequent caffeine crash without the initial pick-up.

"Raven," Sawchak smirked when the demoness entered the room, "I hear that you've been very uncooperative with my camera crew. That just isn't acceptable." Beast Boy could see Raven's stance shift. She was glaring at Sawchak as if intent of breaking his body and mind and then grinding both into a fine powder. But Raven was nervous, even if she tried to hide it. They were all flies in Sawchak's hand, completely powerless, with wings that refused to beat.

"I've already explained what happened to Stewart," Robin frowned at Sawchak's pixilated head.

"True," Sawchak conceded. A thin hand appeared on the screen and started stroking an imaginary goatee. "But you weren't very honest with Stewart. I'm trying to help you guys, but you need to allow my crew to do their jobs. If you don't…" Sawchak leered down at them. He wasn't interested in helping them; he was interested in goading them – goading them into doing something stupid.

Beast Boy was fascinated by Sawchak's hand as it slid up and down the invisible hair sprouting from his chin. It was a small hand, a child's hand. The fingers were too long to be a child's fingers, but there was something off. The hand seemed almost feminine. Beast Boy knew he'd seen hands like Sawchak's before. It might have been Raven or Starfire but Beast Boy felt certain that it was something else.

"Hey, man, there's no reason to be threatening Rae. It was an accident," Cyborg protested.

"And now you're being dishonest with me?" Sawchak asked with a raised brow and a fifty-watt smile. "When are you five going to figure out that I beat you? Do what I say, or dig your own grave. It's simple, no?"

"I believe you shall find us to be most stubborn about admitting defeat to those inferior to us," Starfire shot at Sawchak. The Tamaranian's eyes were flaring with anger and resentment. The air tensed as emotions on both sides of the conversation began to boil just under the surface.

"You Titans have been given too much power for too long. It's going to your heads. It's time for you to answer for everything you've ever done wrong, ever said, and ever thought," Sawchak laughed. The sound was unwelcome and came across the speakers as harsh and emotionless. Beast Boy wasn't positive that the effect was due solely to the speakers.

"What we do is help and protect the innocent!" Robin objected.

"Maybe," Sawchak shrugged. "I don't really care how you define yourself. It's time for everyone else to define you. And they'll do it using what I show them."

"So there's obviously no slant?" Raven sneered skeptically. "Whatever your reasons, you will regret this." The threat came out without any true power. Sawchak heard the lack of conviction and grinned cheekily.

"Maybe I will regret this," Sawchak shrugged again. "But I promised you, Raven, you won't get another apology out of me, and I never break my promises." With a sly wink, the screen flickered off. The color drained from the monitor as black took over.

Beast Boy kept his eyes focused on where Sawchak's hand had been. He had only seen it for a moment, but he couldn't get the limb out of his head. Beast Boy felt like he had just seen an acquaintance out of context. He just couldn't place that hand, but Beast Boy knew that he'd seen it before. Beast Boy racked his brain, searching for a memory that would fit the elusive appendage. His memory wasn't the best in the world, and he wasn't making very much progress.

"That man is a clorbag varblernelk!" Starfire seethed at the blank screen. Beast Boy started at the term. He hadn't heard Starfire use it for years. It had been just a few months after the team had formed, nearly six years ago. One of his pranks had gone after the wrong person, and Starfire had been coated with motor oil.

_You probably don't remember me. It was… what – five and a half? Six years ago?_

Sawchak's voice jarred Beast Boy from his memories. They'd met Sawchak during the same time period – in the very beginning.

_You saved my life, and I know my sister will always owe you._

The things that Sawchak had said earlier that seemed strange or cryptic made a little more sense now. Something had happened six years ago – something bad, something Sawchak still held a grudge over. Sawchak's sister would always owe them. Beast Boy frowned at where Sawchak's leering face had been. What did Sawchak's sister owe them? They had still been getting a handle on working together as a team of vigilantes. Was it possible that they had made a mistake?

"And what is a clorbag Vanderbilt?" a raspy voice queried from behind them. Beast Boy turned toward Stewart with weary resignation. A camera was clutched between his clubbed fingers with the telltale red light winking at them.

"I thought filming was stopped until new cameras got here," Cyborg commented with a raised eyebrow. His mouth twitched slightly at Stewart's mispronunciation.

"Oh, no. Three Titans are still better than none. Everybody with a camera is going to be active. Hopefully, we'll get a little of all of you," Stewart smiled wickedly from behind his lens. It was amazing how sinister his smile made such mundane words sound.

"So, what's a clorbag Vanderbilt, Starfire? Not something pleasant, I take it, but I don't have a Tamaranian-English dictionary on hand." Starfire and Cyborg shared glances. They were the only two present who spoke Tamaranian. Beast Boy thought he had a basic idea of what it meant, however.

Beast Boy saw the other cameras enter the room. All of them were active and turned to their charges, save for Drew and the cheery woman. Her smile was the only thing of the woman Beast Boy had ever really seen; now he got a better look. She was the closest thing to a pixie Beast Boy had ever seen: her limbs were slender and small. Piercing henna eyes locked with his briefly, and Beast Boy was forced to look away. They were friendly eyes, inviting even, but they were so intense. Those were the type of eyes he imagined Robin hid behind his mask – fiery, serious, and friendly (to the right people).

"There is no translation in your language," Starfire answered Stewart's question.

"What about another language? I speak a few," Stewart insisted.

"Feche acima, você homem vile," Starfire said slowly (as if the language was new to her) with a sweet smile. Beast Boy had never heard the language before, and he knew for a fact that Starfire was fluent in every language she spoke, with the exception of contemporary slang. The pixie woman's eyes widened. She was the only one with a reaction. The pixie woman opened her mouth, possibly to translate, and Beast Boy panicked.

"Raven, follow me for a sec," Beast Boy said, hoping to keep the pleading in his voice at a level only Raven's well-trained ears could hear. If Raven and he left, their shadows would probably follow them. They had to. Raven arched an eyebrow at Beast Boy before heading for the stairs. Beast Boy followed her at a trot and was relieved to see Drew and pixie girl do the same.

As the doors slid shut, Beast Boy heard Stewart say, "I don't recognize that one."

Raven wheeled on Beast Boy once the doors closed. She was still mad at him for the shower prank, and the fanfiction fiasco, and probably half a dozen other things, but she was willing to cooperate with him and get the two people behind them out of the living room.

"Unless you're going to apologize, you're wasting my time," Raven deadpanned with the faintest hint of a smile telling Beast Boy this was an act. Her eyes told him he wasn't off the hook just yet. The real groveling would come later. Beast Boy laughed nervously.

"About that," he chuckled around his nerves, "can we take a walk around the tower? The usual apology doesn't look like it's gonna work this time," he explained with a subtle glance back at Drew and the pixie woman. Raven rolled her eyes before walking over to the elevator.

They walked together in silence. There wasn't much to say. The walls were watching their progress intently, trying to predict what would happen next, like any devote mystery reader. Beast Boy led by a few inches down the elevator and down another hallway, all the while trying to talk to Raven using his eyes. It was hard to tell if she was getting the message.

Beast Boy stopped in front of a large metal door. The barrier was a solid two and a half inches of osmium and could only be opened by a retinal scan, a palm print, and voice-print recognition. Raven looked quizzically at Beast Boy; they hadn't needed this room for almost two years.

Beast Boy shook his hand out of his glove and slapped it onto the palm reader, hoping Raven would figure out what to do. A port opened in the wall and Beast Boy leaned toward it. A small red light moved up and down over his eye while the palm reader flared blue-white.

"Beast Boy: Primary Access, R3F6," he said clearly when the scans had finished. With a quick jerk, Beast Boy put his glove back on. He'd never really grown comfortable showing people his claws, how much of an animal he really was.

With a groan of protest, the doors started to slide open. The room was a large cylinder. Bright cerulean symbols were lined up against the walls, each perfectly centered in a pure white circle. The place pulsed with magical energy. Beast Boy never found out which symbols did what. When Starfire and he had picked out the symbols, they'd just chosen the ones that made them feel safest.

"Why are we here?" Surprisingly, it wasn't Raven who asked the question. It was the pixie girl. Beast Boy shrugged noncommittally and wandered into the center of the room.

"I sometimes come here to think. Isn't it awesome?" he said vaguely, trying to get pixie girl's and Drew's interest. They needed to be inside for this to work. They bit. Raven walked in behind Beast Boy and both shadows followed.

"You didn't actually answer my question, Beast Boy," pixie girl pressed as the doors began to screech shut.

"No," Beast Boy said thoughtfully. "I guess I didn't. It's a good place to sit and think, though. You guys should try it." Beast Boy felt his legs go numb as Raven's powers seeped up through the floor. The frigid aura fully surrounded Raven and him and then sunk back into the ground, taking both Titans with it. With a final, almighty metal howl, the doors ground into place.

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**Author's Note:** Thank you for joining us for another instalation. Please, set aside a moment to offer your opinions on this specific chapter or the story as a whole.

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	6. Chapter 6

Well, hello everybody. Happy Mother's Day! Hopefully, you'll all be able to do something nice today. Here's another chapter of Smile for the Camera. To all readers, enjoy, won't you? I'm not certain when I'll be able to get the next chapter up. With any luck, it won't be too long. However, I'm leaving for a summer exchange program for the last few weeks of school, and I've heard horror stories about how expensive Internet cafés are.

I had a blast writing this chapter. It might show at some points, or maybe not. Anyway, I command you to have as much fun reading it as I had writing it. :-) Once again, a very special thank-you to my reviewers.

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Smile for the Camera

Beast Boy shivered for a moment as Raven's power withdrew. She had taken them to just outside of the safe room. A quiet, almost nonexistent banging was coming from the other side of the door. Even Beast Boy had a hard time hearing it. The good news was that it only sounded like one person was hitting the doors.

"Care to explain what that was about?" Raven asked with a smirk. It was the closest she had come to being civil to him while he was awake for a while. And Beast Boy had no way of knowing how nice Raven was to him while he was out cold.

"Like you haven't been waiting for a reason to do that ever since you met them," Beast Boy grinned back at her. Raven didn't object.

The banging suddenly died down from inside the safe room. Whoever had been attacking the barrier so insistently had probably just hurt themselves and given up.

"No," Raven answered eventually. "I wanted to do that. I didn't before now because it seemed like a bad idea."

"It's a better idea now?" Beast Boy asked with a half-hearted chuckle.

"No, it's still a horrible idea. The only difference now is that there's no documentation of it," Raven responded curtly. "As long as they don't have cameras, I don't need to deal with them." Raven turned and swept away, leaving Beast Boy to shuffle his feet.

"Hey, Raven!" Beast Boy called when he heard the elevator doors open. He snapped his head up and saw Raven standing in the elevator, holding down the open door button. "I know you probably want some alone time and all, but do you think you could help me? Sawchak reminded me of something."

"What did he remind you of?" Raven arched an eyebrow at Beast Boy thoughtfully. She waved him forward, and the changeling hurried to the elevator. Once Beast Boy was inside, Raven let the doors slide shut.

"Well, Sawchak said we met him six years ago, right? He said… he said we saved his life. And that his sister owes us, right?" Beast Boy looked over at Raven to see if she remembered any of this. While her face was impassive, Raven hadn't interrupted him yet. Beast Boy took that to be a good sign. "I was thinking that we probably met Sawchak a while back. I think he's been holding a grudge against us."

The elevator continued up in silence. Beast Boy stole a look at Raven and saw that she was biting back some smarmy remark.

"That's pretty smart, Beast Boy," Raven said haltingly. Beast Boy beamed at the compliment, completely elated by the compliment, even if it had been given hesitantly. "What happened to your zombie hypnotist theories?" Beast Boy could feel himself deflating until he realized that the words barely had a hint of sarcasm in them. Raven's smirk set him completely at ease.

"Well," Beast Boy answered with a toothy grin, "you didn't let me finish. Sawchak's obviously angry with us because he didn't want us to save his life. The zombies brainwashed him into thinking that death was better than life. That way, he could join their undead army and they could start planning their invasion of the surface world."

"You're not allowed to watch any more bad science-fiction movies," Raven chuckled with a playful roll of her eyes.

"Hey! Those movies are good for your soul," Beast Boy rebutted with an ever widening grin. "Besides," he added under his breath, "I got that idea from a comic book."

Raven scrutinized Beast Boy until he felt positive she'd somehow heard his last remark. He was just beginning to feel nervous when Raven moved on; "What did you need my help with?"

"Oh, right," Beast Boy chuckled. "We just got a couple hours away from Drew and…" Beast Boy hesitated as the phrase "pixie girl" flitted through his head. Raven rescued him once she realized he was waiting for a name.

"Sarah Rose."

"Right. We just got a few hours away from Sarah Rose and Drew so we can start digging. As long as we avoid the other cameras, we've got the tower back." Beast Boy waited for Raven's answer. He thought he knew the answer, but he wanted to be sure. It was almost as if she'd destroyed the cameras so they could do this. That was just his imagination, though.

The elevator doors slid open with a delicate chime, and Raven stepped out into the hallway. After giving Beast Boy a small nod, Raven started down the corridor. Beast Boy kept his eyes and ears peeled as they moved through the tower, keeping watch for any unwelcome eyes and their virtual swarms. Raven and Beast Boy managed to avoid problems as they traveled, save for a close call in front of the bathroom involving Stewart, Robin, and a serious privacy issue.

"That was when the prank was supposed to happen," Beast Boy whispered as they turned around and started taking the long way to wherever Raven was headed.

"Am I supposed to be reassured?" Raven hissed in response. Beast Boy kept quiet for the rest of the trip. Raven would have to lighten up sooner or later, but Sawchak was more important at the moment.

As Raven approached Beast Boy's room, the changeling slowed down. The hydraulics pushed the youngest Titan's bedroom door open and Raven picked her way around one of Beast Boy's homemade claymore mines. The clothing sat by impassively, waiting for somebody less cautious to wander too close. Raven flicked Beast Boy's computer mouse and the screensaver of self-dedicated love notes vanished.

"Why are we in here?" Beast Boy asked as the doors closed behind him.

"Can you think of anywhere else nobody in their right mind would go?" Raven asked as she opened an Internet browser.

"Your room," Beast Boy offered automatically.

"And since you're in your right mind, even if ever so slightly, we're going to be in here."

Beast Boy thought about what Raven had said for a moment, mulling it over in his head. "Does that mean you're not in your right mind?" he asked astutely, a sly grin playing across his features.

"I tolerate you; there's your answer. Do you want to look online or through the archives?" Raven sniped back, her playful manner melting away as she settled into her task. This was why Beast Boy needed her help: Raven could focus enough for both of them.

"Online," Beast Boy answered quickly.

"You'll take the archives," Raven told him matter-of-factly as she started typing. "I wouldn't want to tempt you: there are so many ways to get distracted on a computer."

"Glad I could have an opinion," Beast Boy mumbled as he turned around. He had never looked through the archives before, mainly because looking at the reports involved reading. Another was that Beast Boy had already lived everything in the reports, save for Robin's intentional mistakes and omissions. Robin usually fudged the official reports – a fact Stewart and Sawchak would love to get their hands on if they could.

Beast Boy trudged to the library next to Robin's room, careful to avoid any cameras. The door slid open quietly and allowed the green teen to enter. Bookshelves lined the walls, filled to bursting with novels that couldn't fit into Raven's room, literature that Beast Boy had never heard of before, and old instruction manuals that nobody other than Silkie had ever looked at. And Silkie had only been interested in eating the things.

Random papers lay forgotten on the floor. Most of them were covered in Robin's chicken-scratch handwriting. The rest were covered in grids, graphs, and math equations that looked like they defied the rules of logic. Beast Boy knew both Starfire and Raven spent time in here, but they were apparently better at cleaning up after themselves than Robin and Cyborg.

Beast Boy wandered into the cluttered space. He had no clue where Robin logged the archives once they were written and submitted to the mayor and police force. There were copies on the Tower's mainframe, but Beast Boy knew he couldn't access those. There were hard copies in here somewhere. There had to be.

Eventually, Beast Boy's eyes landed on a row of file cabinets that were grouped in the back corner of the room. Beast Boy walked over to the file cabinets and read the dirtied labels above each handle. The changeling grabbed the handle under the oldest looking label and pulled.

After a short battle against the over-stuffed drawer, Beast Boy successfully opened the cabinet. Large paper collections, barely held together by paperclips, stared up at Beast Boy. This drawer alone looked like it had over three hundred pages stuffed into it. Beast Boy glared at the papers, willing the massive records to shrink.

Beast Boy grabbed one of the stacks and yanked it out of its grove. He glanced through the first page, looking for key events or phrases that would indicate the time frame. Beast Boy was about to put the stack back when the phrase "chronoton detonator" caught his eye. Beast Boy kept reading and found "nanoscopic probes." He hadn't known what those were before, and he didn't know what they were now. All Beast Boy knew was that it had happened around five years ago. He was in the right file cabinet.

Beast Boy slammed the papers unceremoniously into the cabinet and forced the drawer closed. Then the youngest Titan wrapped his arms around the thick metal furniture and dragged it to the door. Beast Boy had what he needed. Beast Boy was just in front of the living room when the doors slid open unexpectedly. Starfire floated up the stairs, her shadow only a few feet behind her.

"Beast Boy?" Starfire queried when she saw the changeling dragging the file cabinet across the carpet. "For what purpose are you taking Robin's files from the archives?"

"I was going to help re-organize them; Robin's been talking about doing it for a while," Beast Boy shrugged, the lie rolling off his tongue with more ease than he should have been comfortable with. Starfire's eyebrows inched toward her hairline. Luckily, the camera was behind her and couldn't see. "But I can't stand staying in the library. Besides, I've come this far – my room's just a little further."

Beast Boy stopped pulling the cabinet and moved out from behind it.

"What are you up to?" he asked as casually as he could, hoping Starfire would stop asking questions.

Starfire gestured behind her toward the living room, a small spark of understanding flaring to life in her eyes. Beast Boy stole a glance into the room. Everything looked all right. It took a moment for him to realize that there was a shiny coat of slime on one of the windows. Resting on the floor was the culprit – Silkie.

"Dude! What happened to Silkie?" Beast Boy asked, completely shocked. The larvae didn't get four feet from the ground and leave that mark on his own, and the mutant bug usually moved more than he was now.

"Claire does not appreciate insects. Silkie startled her and…" Starfire tapered off. Beast Boy looked at Starfire's shadow – Claire apparently – and noticed that her bronze hands were shaking. "I was going to fetch the Cornexian salts."

Beast Boy gulped. The Cornexian salts that Starfire had in her room were the most putrid things he'd ever smelt. It looked like regular salt, but there was no mistaking the acrid scent for anything from Earth. The good news was that they could wake anything with a nose up without trouble.

Starfire started flying down the hall, Claire tagging behind her. Beast Boy turned back to the file cabinet and started hauling it after them, heading for his room. That was a close one, but Starfire had caught on quickly enough.

"Where's Drew?" Beast Boy's eyes widened. He couldn't tell the truth on this, and he'd used up his best lies already.

The green elf twisted his head around and measured up Claire. Her hands were still shaking slightly, but her toffee eyes were focused and clear. Beast Boy couldn't shake the impression that Claire was a professional reporter. There was something about her that screamed security and confidentiality. It was almost like staring down a younger and infinitely nicer version of Stewart. In fact, Beast Boy wouldn't have been surprised if the two were related.

"Well, um… you see, I…"

"Beast Boy!" Beast Boy sighed internally when he heard Raven calling him. She would know how to handle this. Claire and Beast Boy turned as one as Raven rounded the corner. Raven's eyes darted from the file cabinet, to Beast Boy, to Claire, to the camera, and then to the file cabinet again.

"What are you doing?" Raven asked eventually. Beast Boy could tell she was referring to why he'd tried to drag the file cabinet to his room. "Drew is looking for you."

"You know where Drew is?" Claire asked politely. Raven nodded slowly. "Could you remind him of what Stewart said before choosing him for this job, please? I'd really appreciate it." Without another word, Claire brushed past them in pursuit of the long-departed Starfire.

Beast Boy held his breath for a few seconds, making sure Claire was gone, before cracking up. Raven scowled at him, and Beast Boy managed to stifle his giggles.

"That was close," he chuckled nervously.

"Why were you moving the cabinet? We can't afford to get caught doing this. We can't afford mistakes."

"You're starting to sound like Robin. Chill. Everything worked out. Besides," Beast Boy waggled his eyebrows, "that was an awesome adrenaline rush." Raven narrowed her eyes at him, and the changeling lapsed into silence.

"Why were you looking for me?" Beast Boy asked as he grabbed the file cabinet again.

"I passed Starfire in the halls, and she mentioned you probably needed saving," Raven smirked. With a quick wave of her hand, the file cabinet was engulfed by ebony light and lifted from Beast Boy's arms.

ooooo

Beast Boy's room had transformed. The changeling could do little but stare, mouth agape, at what Raven had done to his bedroom. He didn't remember spending very long in the archives, but the change he was seeing now had to have taken a long time.

"Dude, what did you do?" Beast Boy shrieked after they entered his room. The windows were thrown open, but they weren't venting toxic fumes anymore. The tangled and discarded sheets that he'd thrown from his top bunk that morning were back in place and neatly made. The floor had been cleared. Three old pizza boxes were resting in a corner, accompanied by a moldy shoe that Beast Boy vaguely remembered bringing home a few months ago when he was in his canine phase. Other than that, it was impossible to tell that Beast Boy's floor usually looked like a battlefield.

"I couldn't concentrate," Raven stated simply as she set the file cabinet down next to the pizza boxes.

"So you decided to go Mr. Clean on my room?" Beast Boy quipped as he rediscovered the color of his carpet. "Where is everything? I had everything in an exact place."

"Right," Raven drawled from the computer, "living in a pigsty really is an exact science. Everything that was trash got thrown away, everything that looked like clothing is in the hamper, and everything else is in the closet. I wouldn't recommend opening it anytime soon," she added as an after-thought.

Beast Boy frowned at Raven's back before giving in. "Thanks."

"Read," Raven commanded. The lowest drawer in the file cabinet popped open. Beast Boy frowned again and set in on the papers.

He wasn't sure how long they worked. It felt like a long time, though that could have just been his deeply engrained hatred of research talking. Raven spent most of the time sitting in front of the computer, jumping from one webpage to another. Aside from the occasional flipped page, opened drawer, or exasperated sigh, the room was completely silent. Every time Beast Boy found himself getting distracted, Raven was there to redirect his attention.

The official reports were pretty funny in Beast Boy's opinion. The things that had been changed or omitted made sense, but it didn't change the fact that, compared to the actual event, there were some very big differences.

"Well?" Raven asked after what felt like a few hours. "Did you find anything?"

"Yeah," Beast Boy responded lazily as he turned a worn page. "Puppet King didn't take control of our bodies, and the HIVE never kicked us out of the tower."

Beast Boy looked up just in time to see Raven smack her forehead.

"Okay. Did you find anything Sawchak related?" Raven tried again. The slight strains in her voice warned Beast Boy that her nerves were a little frayed. It looked like Raven hadn't found anything on the Internet, or at least not something she liked.

"Not yet," Beast Boy sighed. Grinning weakly at Raven he added, "But I haven't gotten through all the records yet. It would be easier if I could just remember when I saw him."

"You remembered Sawchak and didn't say anything?" Raven snapped.

"No!" Beast Boy shouted with his hands out in front of him, as if to ward off an attack. "I remember… I remember his hands," Beast Boy finished lamely. "I know I've seen Sawchak before because I remember his hands." Raven crossed her arms across her chest skeptically.

"So, this has been a complete waste of time based off one of your hunches," she said coolly. Beast Boy tensed in anger.

"I know what I saw," he replied acidly.

"I know," Raven sighed after a tense silence. "I believe you. Just close your eyes and try to relax." Seeing the strange look Beast Boy was giving her, Raven added, "If you can't remember, maybe I can remember for you."

Beast Boy eyed Raven warily. She was talking about going into his head and rooting through his conscious and subconscious memories. From the little he remembered about that kind of thing, once a person's mind was penetrated there was nothing to do but wait. He'd be giving Raven an all-access, VIP pass into his mind. Slowly, Beast Boy closed his eyes.

"Just relax and breathe," Beast Boy heard Raven instruct. "Azarath… Metrion… Zinthos…" In an instant, the blackness behind his eyelids shattered and Beast Boy was jerked back in time. The sights, smells, and sounds blurred together into a tangled mess as Beast Boy felt himself losing control of his own mind. The young Titan panicked and started trying to fight back, to regain control. The helplessness was unbearable – crushing. He felt completely defenseless. Grasping frantically with clumsy mental fingers, Beast Boy tried to snatch his mind back.

In a flash, the changeling bolted up from the floor, breathing like he'd just run a marathon. Sweat was trickling from his temples despite the winter cold drifting through the open windows.

"Why'd you stop? You could have just pushed through," the changeling panted when he noticed Raven watching him from the lower bunk.

"A person's mind is a sacred place. If you don't want to let me in, I'll stay out," she deadpanned.

Beast Boy stayed on the floor for a while, collecting his thoughts and regaining his bearings. Raven could help him remember where and when he'd seen Sawchak. All he needed to do was trust her (even if it was with the contents of his entire mind).

"Alright," Beast Boy grimaced, "let's try again. Just… take care of me, okay?"

Raven looked at Beast Boy as if to ask if he was sure. She was seeing a part of him that Beast Boy usually tried to keep hidden. Then, with a small nod, she crossed her legs and hovered off the bottom bunk. Raven's eyes started to glow white with magical energy as Beast Boy prepared himself for the helplessness to consume him.

"Azarath… Metrion… Zinthos…"

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, there we have it. Drop me a review and tell me what you liked, disliked, have questions about etc..

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

Hello again readers. I shall shortly be off the the wonderful world of Cádiz, Spain. For the next two weeks, I shall be over-seas attempting to communicate with a third or forth grade vocabulary, the ability to speak in only two tenses, and the joys of charades and miming. :-) I'm looking forward to it. Sort of. I'm also terrified. No lie there. The thing I hate most about travel abroad is that it's all too easy to be stereotyped as yet another idiotic American pig-dog. That said, it should be fun. Have a sense of humor about the fact that you will make a fool of yourself multiple times a day and you're set.

Enough of that, however. There were a few hiccups in this chapter. I'm proud to say that I've ironed out most of them. The next update will, more likely than not, be unavailable until early to mid-June. So, I hope you're hooked enough by the end of this chapter to wait around for a bit.

As always, I extend a special thanks to my readers and reviewers. Enjoy.

* * *

Smile for the Camera  


Beast Boy had experienced some scary stuff in his life, but none of it compared to the horror of nonexistence within his own mind. He could feel Raven moving around and probing, as if his mind was territory she had long been familiar with. Her presence was sifting through entire years of his life, small snippets of sound or color flaring into existence now and again. It definitely gave a whole new meaning to seeing one's life flash before their eyes.

Old conversations and sensations swirled around Beast Boy's consciousness, threatening to overwhelm him with their mere presence. Throughout it all, Beast Boy could feel Raven around him, soothing his fears and forcing back the swell of memories in a strange mental embrace.

The swirls of thought started to calm down and Raven went back to searching through his memories. Slowly, gaining clarity with every second, a hand solidified in Beast Boy's mind's eye. It was the only active thought – everything else was forced back and locked away. A strange feminine looking hand.

The flood started up again, but there was a new sense of control behind the deluge. Raven had set up a filter and was extruding the most recent years of his life through it. Beast Boy's focus on the images sharpened and he watched his life fly by in reverse. Most of the images passed too quickly for him to see clearly. Those that had similar characteristics to their current situation slowed down, sometimes enough for Beast Boy to read his own lips and recount the scene.

Beast Boy's life continued to play in reverse. The longer the sensation lasted, the more nervous the green teen got. Nonexistence didn't get any easier with experience. Raven continued to burrow into Beast Boy's mind as the last few days, the Brotherhood of Evil, Trigon, Terra, and so much more flashed before him. Thankfully, Raven seemed to be avoiding the most painful memories. Raven could probably still see them, but the empath was sparing Beast Boy those particular trips down memory lane.

The further back Raven went, the more Beast Boy started to doubt his certainty. Still, he could have been positive that now wasn't the first time they'd met Jefferson Sawchak. Eventually, Raven reached the private training sessions Robin had given him on maintaining his larger forms. Beast Boy would never tell anybody, but he knew that those training sessions had contributed largely to the initial animosity he'd had with Robin. Robin had not been a very good leader or teacher those first few months. All the lessons had been concentrated on a giant ladder to perfection that Beast Boy couldn't ascend quickly enough.

_Think big. Think big. Think big. Think big._

The unbidden chant slipped into Beast Boy's thoughts. It had been a long time since he'd needed to use it. As soon as the private mantra finished echoing through his brain, Beast Boy felt like his gut was being sucked into a vacuum cleaner. The tugging was slow at first, tentative. Beast Boy could feel Raven's presence stretching out after the chant, trying to follow it to its source. What had started as a tentative tug quickly escalated to an uncontrollable surge forward. Beast Boy couldn't stop it, and something told him Raven couldn't either.

_There was a crackling sound near him._

_Flames lapped at dry bricks._

_Angry black fumes flew into the sky. _

_The air was starved of liquid, pressing down on all sides and attempting to steal his sweat glands for itself._

_A sound of splintering wood rang out._

_A siren was shrilling nearby._

_A shattering explosion and the tinkling of molten glass._

_A strong grip under his arms, hoisting him skyward._

_A crash as stone plummeted to the ground._

_A name, called desperately around the banging of tiny hands on a metal surface…_

"_Lynn!"_

Beast Boy bolted up again and gasped for breath. The dryness was still in his mouth, leeching moisture from his tongue. Beast Boy staggered to his feet and rushed for the open window. Raven's eyes were still closed. She was centering herself in her own body before resurfacing from Beast Boy's mental plane. Beast Boy stuck his head out the window and plunged it into a graying pile of slush. He took the dirtied ice into his mouth and waited for it to melt, ignoring the taste.

"That can't be good for you," Raven remarked dryly from behind him. Beast Boy pulled his head back into the tower and swallowed forcibly. He turned to Raven and shook his head. The empath's forehead was glistening with sweat and her breath was escaping quickly in wispy streams of white.

"Don't care," Beast Boy gasped as the invisible sand coating his tongue was banished. Raven rolled her eyes at the changeling's antics. The empath waved her hand and stuck it out in front of her. The arm vanished as it phased into a different part of the tower. When Raven drew it back, she was holding a glass of water in her hand. Raven took a small sip of the liquid before turning inward to sort through what she'd uncovered. It made Beast Boy uncomfortable to think how much Raven had just learned about him. It didn't help that she was currently categorizing all of it.

"What was up with that last memory?" Beast Boy asked when the silence became unbearable. "I saw all the others, but…"

"That one was broken," Raven finished for him with a nod. "You suffered some trauma that damaged the memory. That's why you couldn't remember it earlier. We should check the first reports," Raven said as she picked herself off the bed. Beast Boy stared after her, dumbstruck. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to be mad at Raven for ignoring her sojourn into his mind or grateful that she wasn't making a big deal out of it.

"How early are we talking?" Beast Boy asked, opting to be grateful for the moment. They had other things to worry about.

"Early," Raven frowned at the file cabinet. "Robin might not even have records going that far back."

Beast Boy thought that was unlikely. Robin always had records on everything. The Boy Wonder always controlled everything. It was one of the things that made him such an excellent leader and such a lousy roommate.

"You're not serious, are you?" Beast Boy asked when he saw Raven's expression. "This is Robin we're talking about here! Obsessive-compulsive know-everything-no-matter-how-unimportant-it-is Robin. There's no way he wouldn't have reported something as big as…" Beast Boy drifted off as he realized that the memory still had no context. There had been fire, explosions, broken wood, and shattered stone, but he still couldn't figure out why or how.

"He wouldn't have if the team wasn't formed yet, or if it was only a tentative arrangement," Raven corrected as she pulled out what must have been the oldest packet of papers in the entire archive. Raven read through the headings quickly before throwing the packet back in disgust. Beast Boy recognized it as something he had already read.

"With how much Cyborg and Robin were fighting in the beginning, Robin didn't start the archives until we got our first message from Slade."

Beast Boy waited for that to sink in. The HIVE attack on the tower had been almost four months after he joined the Titans. He hadn't realized the foundation of the team had been so unstable for so long. Sure, Cyborg and Robin fought a lot – Cyborg still had a hard time every now and then being the oldest Titan and having to take someone else's orders – but Beast Boy hadn't realized just how precarious the situation had been.

"So, what do we do now? I mean, if Robin doesn't have records of it, the only people who might would be like… old newspaper articles or something." Raven sighed and pressed two fingers against her chakra in response.

"I'm going to get back on the Internet and see what I can find. You're going to go get pizzas."

"Pizzas? I don't know, Rae, I'm not that hungry."

"Good," Raven said as she sat in front of the computer. "The pizzas aren't for us: we need a peace offering. We can't keep Sarah Rose and Drew locked up – the new cameras are arriving tomorrow – and if either of them say anything to Stewart, we're in trouble. So make sure their pizza isn't vegetarian."

"You want to let Drew and Sarah Rose out?" Beast Boy asked slowly.

"Not really, but we can't just let them starve in there. Go get the pizza. In fact, get two – you're probably hungrier than you think," Raven added after a moment.

Beast Boy jumped out the window and morphed into a falcon on the way down. Streamlining himself as he got closer to the ground, Beast Boy pulled out of his dive and shot across the bay for Angelo's Pizza Parlor. The parlor wasn't too far away, and Angelo had been making the Titan's pizzas at discount prices ever since they'd stopped a run-away bus from demolishing his restaurant.

ooooo

Beast Boy still couldn't believe he'd ordered a pizza with meat on it. That alone spoke volumes about how important it was that the two trapped crew members forgive Raven and him. Angelo seemed to think it was strange for Beast Boy to place an order for a meat pizza too, because the portly Italian spent a little too long saying hello and inquiring about how the changeling was doing. Beast Boy paid for the pizzas once they were out of the oven and headed back to the tower. Transforming into a pterodactyl, Beast Boy took a pizza in each of his talons and flew back to the tower. The green dinosaur landed on the top bunk with a small thump and morphed back into its human form. 

"Alright," Beast Boy clapped after he'd flipped Raven's and his box open, "tell me now how much you want, because the smell's been driving me crazy for hours."

"You left forty minutes ago," Raven remarked wryly. Still, there was the tinniest hint of a small adorning her features. Raven got to her feet and snatched the vegetable pizza from Beast Boy's lap before he could dive into the meal. She left the other one with him; there was no danger of Beast Boy eating a meat lover's pizza. Raven backed slowly out of the door, waving the pizza box back and forth enticingly. Beast Boy bounded off the bunk bed and grabbed the other pizza. 

The trip to the safe room was uneventful. It was actually a little creepy how quiet the tower was. When they got closer to the reinforced osmium doors, Beast Boy could hear a dull knocking. The changeling shook his head and glanced at Raven. The empath's eyes flared to a brilliant white, and freezing black light enclosed the two Titans.

When the darkness vanished, they were standing at the back of the safe room. Beast Boy couldn't resist the urge to shiver. He doubted he would ever get over that reaction. Surprisingly, the pizza box was still warm between his hands.

"If they didn't open the door the first time, the second time, the third time, or the fourth time you did that, they probably won't open it now." Drew was leaning against a particularly complex symbol that Beast Boy had always thought looked like a fish with an extra fin attempting a hula-dance.

Sarah Rose – Beast Boy forced the term pixie girl into the back of his head – ignored Drew's impassive observation and continued to slam her shoulder blade into the door. Beast Boy realized with a start that the only reason she wasn't using her hands was because they had been reduced to a mass of painful looking welts, blisters, and shallow cuts.

"Who wants pizza?" Raven asked when Sarah Rose took a break from her assault. Both Drew and Sarah Rose looked up like they'd been shocked. Drew's face split into a grin. Sarah Rose looked like she was trying to discern how to cause them the most pain. That could be a problem.

"I'm starved," Drew piped up as he climbed off the floor. "What type of pizza did you get?"

"We got one vegetarian pizza and one murder's pizza," Beast Boy supplied, gesturing to the two boxes Raven and he were carrying.

"I think Beast Boy meant meat lover's pizza. Didn't you, Beast Boy?" Raven added threateningly when the changeling opened his mouth to argue. Beast Boy closed his mouth reluctantly and shuffled his feet together like a scolded child.

The youngest Titan plopped down in the center of the safe room and crossed his legs. He flipped the pizza box open in his lap and was reminded that Raven had stolen the good pizza. Making a face that conveyed his disgust at the butchery in front of him, the green teen slid the pizza across the floor to Drew. Drew didn't have any of Beast Boy's inhibitions when it came to consuming meat, and the young shadow dove into the meal with unparalleled vigor.

"Raven, can I have dinner now?" Beast Boy's only answer was to be hit in the head with a flying pizza box. Beast Boy ignored the unprovoked attack and started in on his own meal. For the next few minutes, Beast Boy was oblivious to everything around him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sarah Rose demanded, annoyance threaded through her words. "Do you think you can just show up with pizza and we'll forget that you locked us up like animals?"

"I'd hoped so. It seems to have worked on Drew," Raven answered with a tiny shrug as she walked over. Raven's hands started to shimmer with translucent blue light. Sarah Rose stiffened but stood her ground. Raven passed the wavering magic over Sarah Rose's battered hands and the cuts and bruises began to mend.

"Let's get some pizza, Sarah, before the boys devour them. Beast Boy and I will explain everything. Just…" Raven's mouth went dry at the hypocrisy of her words, "trust us. Just for a while." Sarah Rose frowned darkly at Raven, forcing a sigh from the dark girl.

Raven walked over to the door and placed her hand over the palm scanner. The scanner lit up and slid up her palm easily. When the port opened for an eye scan, Raven leaned forward, speaking clearly. "Raven: Primary Access, R1F2." The doors began to squeal open.

"Trust us," Raven repeated as she turned back to the boys and the quickly disappearing pizzas. "Now, let's get some pizza." Sarah Rose looked from the pizzas to the open door, obviously weighing her choices. Eventually, slowly, her hunger won out over her anger. It was hard to stay mad at the very people she idolized.

ooooo

"So, start explaining," Sarah Rose prompted once Beast Boy had helped himself to the last slice of pizza. Drew and the changeling had been joking around and talking as if nothing had ever happened from the first couple of bites. Raven had been eating quietly ever since opening the doors. Sarah Rose, however, kept glancing nervously back at the doors, fearful that they would close again.

Raven nodded thoughtfully, as if Sarah Rose had just said something exceptionally bright. She was mad, that was to be expected. But Sarah Rose wasn't as mad as she was acting. The girl was playing the role she felt obligated to fill.

"We locked you in here to get you out of our hair," Raven said evenly. Beast Boy's eyes widened at Raven's bluntness. Beast Boy hastily swallowed the pizza in his mouth and cut Raven off.

"What Raven means is... we're sorry. Right, Rae?" Beast Boy frowned at the demoness. Raven nodded grudgingly and allowed Beast Boy to take over the explanation. "We needed some time to think without you guys around. You didn't have cameras so…" Beast Boy's voice trailed off in pursuit of a fleeting insight.

"Hey, you guys like us, right?" Beast Boy asked suddenly.

Beast Boy swore he could hear Raven grinding her teeth together, but he had just had the most amazing idea. If he was right, they might finally be able to turn this whole disaster around. Drew's eyebrows arced in a manner that suggested it was a stupid question to bother asking. Sarah Rose's brow furrowed, no doubt going through what must have been a couple eventful hours with Raven, before nodding slowly.

"What does that has to do with anything?" Raven growled. Beast Boy shot Raven a wise glance shrouded in an aura of mystery. Raven fell silent.

"And you don't like Stewart, do you Drew?" Beast Boy asked quickly, his thoughts outstripping his mouth. "What about you Sarah? Do you like Mr. Doom-and-Gloom?" The silence was enough of an answer.

"And neither one of you knows Sawchak?" Beast Boy followed up.

"He's the guy who hired Stewart," Sarah Rose spoke up. "I don't know him, but he's the person who hired us. Why?"

Beast Boy completely lit up at that news. He could see comprehension dawning across Raven's features as she somehow managed to follow his incomprehensive loops and leaps of logic to its conclusion.

"Okay," Beast Boy jumped to his feet and beamed at the two camera-people in front of him. "Do you guys want a different job? We probably can't pay as much, but it's guaranteed to be more fun than following Rae and me around."

Both Drew and Sarah Rose balked at Beast Boy. He wasn't making any sense. They had a job right now, and they couldn't just walk out on it. Stewart would sooner eat them alive than let them quit in the middle of this documentary.

Raven rolled her eyes and started explaining Beast Boy's offer in a way that normal people could follow without suspending their grounding to reality. That involved telling them about Beast Boy's fanfiction reading, meeting Sawchak, signing the condemning contract, and moving up through the past few hours and their suspicions about why Sawchak was doing this. In short, Raven told the two shadows everything that they hadn't been told about their current project.

"When we were still building the tower, there was a fire. Beast Boy and Starfire managed to put it out, and Cyborg evacuated most of the people from the building. One of them was Sawchak. Sawchak kept trying to run back into the building, but Cyborg wouldn't let him. The roof collapsed when Beast Boy put out the fire, killing Sawchak's sister. He's been blaming us for his sister's death ever since," Raven finished the narrative with a sore throat.

Beast Boy couldn't believe his ears. He'd never killed anybody before. It felt so unreal. Sure, it had happened years ago, but he had still crushed a little girl under tons of cement. It wasn't his fault – he knew that. Still… there had to be something he could have done differently. Something he could have done better. Beast Boy's usually vibrant composure wilted. It could be seen in his face: the drooping ears, the downcast eyes, the utter horror threatening to run screaming from his eyes. Beast Boy's shoulders were slumped. He'd dealt with enough death in his life without causing it himself, and the revelation was closing in on him.

"You blacked-out," Raven supplied kindly. "It was the first time you'd ever been a whale. And the first time you'd stayed that big for so long. That was why Robin gave you those endurance lessons… and why he was so harsh when you didn't improve quickly enough. You didn't do anything wrong, Beast Boy. Sometimes things happen that are out of our control." Beast Boy looked up at Raven, as if making sure that she was really there and that her explanation was valid. If it hadn't been his fault, Robin wouldn't have been so hard on him. No, that wasn't true.

"So you were roped into a documentary and tailed by complete strangers without your permission?" Drew asked, obviously trying to redirect the conversation to the present. "And you want to do something to fight back? Count me in!" There was a long pause. "What exactly am I in for?" Beast Boy could feel himself being pulled out of his shock. There was a presence dragging him away from his depression – a presence that reminded him of Raven. Just like that, the old Beast Boy was back, barely able to contain himself as he uncovered the objective of his brainchild. When the changeling was done explaining, two of Stewart's cameras decided to start work on a different job.

ooooo

Beast Boy stood awkwardly in front of the camera. This was a new thing for him, and appearing in control and serious was not something he was well-known for. Raven would be better at this. Raven had insisted that he do it. She said something about personal growth, but Beast Boy had the sneaking suspicion that there was a desire to see him squirm factoring in as well.

The windows in Beast Boy's room were still thrown open. The darkening clouds hinted that it might be a good idea to close them soon. The early morning rays were all but extinguished, and Beast Boy could smell a storm off the ocean breeze. It tickled his keen nose and told tales of large waves, rain, and tongues of lightening.

After yesterday's early dinner, the four rouge moviemakers had snuck into Beast Boy's room to plan. Their plans, their lies, their purpose, everything needed to be decided and it needed to be decided quickly. Because of the constant activity and presence of other people, Beast Boy's carpet was still visible.

The camera winked at him innocently as Beast Boy tried to remember what he needed to say. They hadn't scripted anything; Sarah Rose and Raven agreed that would add to the level of sincerity and credibility. It also meant that Beast Boy had no clue what he should say. And Drew was hoping not to edit too much: Stewart had a chokehold on most of the tech people.

"Um… hi," Beast Boy started nervously. His voice broke and Beast Boy coughed self-consciously. "Most of you already know my name. Well, no. You all know me." Beast Boy frowned to himself. This was going to be harder than he'd thought. It almost gave him a grudging respect for people like Stewart, and then he realized what he was thinking.

"Look," Beast Boy started again, emotion sparking in his eyes. The shades of green washed out of his eyes and penetrated into the camera, searching for the souls and minds on the other side. "There's a documentary being made right now in exchange for the end of fanfiction. A really negative documentary."

Beast Boy took a deep breath to collect himself. He could see Sarah Rose give him an enthusiastic thumbs-up from behind Drew. Raven just nodded comfortingly.

"We can't stop the documentary. We don't want to," he added quickly, "but even if we did, we couldn't. The movie's going to be released and it's going to make us all look really bad. If you believe that, you can save yourself the money for the ticket," Beast Boy grinned at the camera, his canines sticking out from under his lip.

"What we wanted to do was explain why. Why we want fanfiction to stop, and why we agreed to the documentary. I mentioned that the documentary is going to be bad. We want to explain the why there too."

* * *

**Author's Note**: Well, there you have it. Now... I command you to stay interested until I get back. Then I can devote large portions of summer to my writing. As always, please review. If you've read the story with an active mind, it follows logically that you have something to say. Right?

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	8. Chapter 8

Well, it has been a while. I do apologize for the long wait. Longer than what I said it would be, at any rate. For those of you who don't know, college searching takes an obscene amount of time and energy. The perfect way to spend your summer, I know.

I can't blame everything on looking for colleges, though. To be honest, when I got back from my trip, I was afflicted with some of the worst writer's block I've had in my life. It was strange. The first three pages of this chapter were re-written and re-vamped two or three times (depends on which portions weren't complete garbage). Still, once you make a small hole in a dam – in this case writer's block – the rest will eventually gain speed and power until the dam is no more.

I hope everyone enjoys (and that everyone is still actually reading). As always, a special shout-out to my reviewers. You guys are great. And, of course, a thank you as well to my readers, without whom this story would have no audience. That would be sad.

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Smile for the Camera

Beast Boy let his knees give out. His back began to scrape its way down the wall, the fabric of his uniform snagging on the minute bumps along the seemingly flat surface. This was nerve-racking. Not only that, but their plan didn't allow him very much time to recuperate. Sooner or later, Stewart or Sawchak would find out about what they were doing, and that would undoubtedly cause problems unless it happened on their terms. Raven had painstakingly gone over the language in the contract and found nothing against their little rebellion. Then again, Sawchak was tricky: Raven hadn't found the first trap either.

Talking to the camera and explaining what had happened was draining. Beast Boy wasn't exactly a master of language, and he was willing to bet a month's worth of dishes that he'd say or do something stupid before all was said and done. Even worse, both Raven and Sarah Rose had vanished after breakfast. That left Drew and him to wrap up most of the explanations alone. They would have finished long ago, but they couldn't risk staying in any one place for too long, not with the other three cameras around.

"Well, that wasn't as bad as the last shot, Beast Boy," Drew commented as he leaned against the opposite wall. "You're still a tad rusty, but that adds to your appeal. Relax. Have fun with it." The camera's small red light was blinking lazily from under Drew's arm. It was in stand-by, for now, and Beast Boy wanted to savor the moment.

"You've never been on camera to defend yourself, have you?" Beast Boy sighed as his eyelids drooped. This had seemed like a much better idea when it was still an elusive thought in the corner of his mind. Not for the first time, Beast Boy wished it had been more successful at avoiding him. The counter-documentary Raven had come up with was just a little crazy. It would either completely discredit Sawchak and Stewart, or completely discredit Raven and him. It was the second option that made Beast Boy so nervous.

He was being told to relax, to be himself, to allow his awkwardness to authenticate what he said. It wasn't as easy as it sounded, and it sounded pretty stupid to him from the beginning. The reason Raven had told Beast Boy to handle the narrative was because the changeling was popular, personable, and pathetic. He still disagreed with the last one.

"No, I haven't," Drew admitted lightly. Drew removed his camera from under his arm and trained it on Beast Boy again. Beast Boy cringed inwardly; he had hoped for a little more time to regroup. Then he heard the distinct clang of Cyborg's footsteps.

Beast Boy shot up instantly, his eyes darting around the hallway for any telltale evidence of what he was doing. There wasn't any. Beast Boy tried to relax – he was being paranoid. If Raven was right, they weren't even doing anything wrong. The sinking in his gut told Beast Boy that Stewart and Sawchak wouldn't see it that way. And they most certainly wouldn't spin it that way.

Beast Boy threw a significant glance at Drew, who immediately focused his camera at Beast Boy, almost in a threatening manner. It was still in stand-by. Beast Boy tried to think quickly, but his best ideas had been unwieldy and skittish recently. Beast Boy couldn't get a good handle on anything. Drew picked up the changeling's slack.

"Why exactly were you going to mess with the weights in there?" Drew asked, pointing toward the weight room, where they had recently filmed for their counter-documentary, just in time for Cyborg and his shadow to round the corner. Beast Boy only took a moment to catch up with what Drew was doing before silently cursing and jumping into the fray.

"It's just a little pay-back for when Cy replaced all of my tofu with colored cardboard." Beast Boy grabbed the first incident that came to mind and realized too late that it had happened almost two years ago. Apparently, he was still a little disoriented from all the remembering he'd been forced through recently. Drew's camera wasn't recording but Cyborg's shadow caught it – and Cyborg heard it.

"Man, how many times do you have to pay me back for the same thing before you let that go!" Cyborg called exasperatedly. Beast Boy rounded on his friend, fixing a fierce mask in place while trying to speak with his eyes. The middle-aged shadow shifted toward the wall, trying to get a better angle. Drew instinctively moved to stay out of the shot.

The shadow was a sturdy looking man. The curls of vibrant red hair on his head looked like they were in the same place right then that they'd inhabited for the last forty years. Beast Boy couldn't help but wonder if the man ever got a hair cut, despite the absurdity of the idea. He was in shape, lacking the beer belly so popular among single men who were beginning to peak. The man didn't wear a wedding ring, nor did it look like such a ring had ever adorned his fingers. And yet, Cyborg's shadow moved with an ease granted only by happiness.

"As many times as it takes for you to stop doing it!" Beast Boy shot back. Hopefully that would give Cyborg all the information he needed about what was really going on. The cardboard switch had only happened once. Cyborg's human eye narrowed before confusion dawned on his face. Beast Boy began to panic. If Cyborg's confusion caused him to blow Beast Boy's cover…

Beast Boy marched over to Cyborg, his mind racing with thoughts that did everything from question his plans to induce near-hysteria. Without giving himself time to second-guess himself, without giving Cyborg a chance to think or react, Beast Boy took his pointer finger and started hammering it into Cyborg's chest plate, the sound echoing eerily on some notes and returning dull clunks on others once Cyborg tried to escape.

"You just don't get it, do you, Cy? I don't refuse to eat meat because I don't like the taste. I don't eat meat because it's murder. M-U-R-D-E-R. Got that? I've talked to cows and pigs and chickens. I've _been_ cows and pigs and chickens!" Beast Boy cried as he got into his lie. All the while Beast Boy continued to tap the message "Where is the remote?" on Cyborg's chest plate, glancing down at the finger every now and then before seeking eye contact with Cyborg.

"I've got you, man," Cyborg sighed in annoyance before placing a large metal palm on Beast Boy's face and giving the green elf a good shove. Beast Boy stumbled backward and only barely kept from colliding with Drew. Beast Boy watched as Cyborg's electronic eye flashed a deep red. Beast Boy dusted himself off with as much wasteful energy as he could muster, hoping to keep Cyborg's shadow from catching on as his friend accessed his memory core and replayed the argument – the tapping specifically.

"What did you do to my weights, B?" Cyborg asked.

"Nothing."

"I'm not playing with you, grass-stain…"

"Nothing! Drew distracted me and then you showed up. I didn't do anything," Beast Boy spat. Without another word, Cyborg walked into the weight-room. His shadow reluctantly followed. There was a brief beat of silence.

"What just happened?" Drew asked with raised eyebrows.

Beast Boy took a deep breath to calm himself down. It didn't really work, and Beast Boy started to understand what Raven was always going through. It was hard to reign in his frantic emotions.

"Beast Boy?" Drew asked again, waiting for the changeling to answer the question. It took a while but the green boy finally spoke.

"I don't really know." Drew almost dropped his camera and fumbled quickly to catch the equipment.

"You don't know? That entire thing was just improv, no planning? That's crazy; you're crazy. This whole thing is crazy." Beast Boy eyed Drew warily. "Oh, don't get me wrong," Drew amended, seeing the skeptical look, "I don't want to quit, this is a good thing we're doing. But it's crazy. We don't even have a plan. Raven and Sarah Rose have vanished and we're playing hide-and-seek with Stewart, Claire, and Jon."

Beast Boy threw himself against the wall and sunk down again. Drew wasn't wrong, he was just voicing the thoughts Beast Boy had been wrestling with ever since they had started filming. Beast Boy's brow furrowed in thought and he started twiddling his fingers, watching the thumbs go around and around in circles. Starting in one place and arching forward, passing over the other thumb, and falling down until it was right back where it had started. Right back where it had started.

"Hey, Drew. When you're trying to make a point in a documentary, what do you do first?" Drew sighed and sunk down next to Beast Boy, resigning himself to what appeared to be a pointless conversation. Drew placed his camera on the ground and started listing techniques and ideas that he'd used or seen used in the past.

"Well, ideally, you can catch part of your point on camera. Coffins to prove people died in a battle, politicians taking bribes to prove an organization has more power than it should… that type of thing." Beast Boy cocked his head to the side, as if to tell Drew to continue.

"Interviews are another big one. A single mother with three kids who's in debt to prove Medicare needs to be reformed, a widow, a disgruntled employee…" Beast Boy shot up before Drew had finished the sentence. Grabbing Drew's wrist, Beast Boy hauled the man from the ground.

"Employees" was all Beast Boy said before rushing down the hall, his dexterous feet leaving only a slight ripple on the carpet as evidence of his passing. Drew scrambled up from his position, grabbed his camera, and rushed after Beast Boy.

Right back where it had started.

ooooo

The room was just as lonely as the last time Beast Boy had visited. The magazines were lying exactly where they'd been on Beast Boy's last visit, and the changeling found himself struggling to breathe, as if the air in this place, depraved and ignored by the world, was so happy to finally have visitors that its enthusiastic embrace was smothering him. There was a light layer of dust under and on the furniture, like the white fuzz of pesticides on fresh fruit. One of the beaded tracks lay broken in a corner, the bright rainbow colors contrasting marvelously with the creamy carpet.

"Are you sure this is an office?" Drew gasped from behind him. Drew was still out of breath from the trip. At first Drew had run after Beast Boy in the tower. Then, he had spent the flight across the bay screaming, unaccustomed to flight in the clutches of a pterodactyl's claws.

"No," Beast Boy answered as he marched to the door, "but this seemed like a good place to start." The changeling didn't offer anything more, and Drew didn't bother asking; Beast Boy's thought process was too butchered for him to follow anyway.

The dull wood swung open into the same claustrophobic hallway the Titans had been led down just six days ago. It felt like it had been longer. Much longer. Beast Boy craned his head left and then right, looking for some sort of evidence of people. The hall leading to Sawchak's office was strangely intimidating, and Beast Boy turned away without knowing why. Drew followed Beast Boy dutifully, the camera trained on him and recording every sound and movement.

Beast Boy wasn't sure what he was looking for, and the longer he spent looking for it, the longer he felt that he was looking in the wrong place. The hallway was clean enough to pass as an isolation ward, and even Beast Boy's keen senses could find no evidence of life. This wasn't Sawchak's office. If anything, this area had been rented briefly and then abandoned. Beast Boy sighed, the full weight of the situation finding footing on his shoulders and pressing down.

"This was a waste of time," Beast Boy growled. He slammed a fist into the wall, withdrawing the strike quickly to nurse his knuckles. The sound echoed off the drab walls and resonated in the hallway, making the place sound hollow.

"Care to explain what we were looking for?" Drew ventured after a few seconds. "I didn't really get what you meant earlier; you never explained it." Beast Boy turned to Drew and the camera, speaking to Drew but making eye contact with the people on the other side of the camera lens.

"This was where we first met Sawchak. It was his office. Well, not really," Beast Boy added, waving his hand toward the opposite end of the hallway. "Sawchak's office was right down there. I was looking for one of his interns, a nice girl named… Madeline." It took Beast Boy a beat to recall the name, but the awkward girl who'd introduced them to Sawchak, who'd been gapping along with the Titans when they'd first seen his flamboyant attire, swam into his memory when called upon.

Drew panned down the hallway, taking in the empty stretch and recording the complete absence of substance. Both Beast Boy and Drew froze when they heard the distinct click of a door being opened. It was a distant sound, and Beast Boy saw the grand doors leading to Sawchak's supposed office swing inward. Both boys were rooted to the floor. Invisible tendrils seemed to snake around Beast Boy's body, tightening just enough to make him uncomfortable. Beast Boy relaxed as soon as his keen eyesight caught who had opened the doors.

"Raven!" Beast Boy shrugged out of his invisible bindings and sprinted down the hall.

"Beast Boy?" Raven asked when she heard the changeling's call. "What are you doing here?" Beast Boy reached the two girls exiting Sawchak's once-was office and shrugged sheepishly.

"Great minds think alike?" Beast Boy offered hopefully. Raven smirked as she passed but refrained from saying anything. "Hey, I totally have a great mind!" Beast Boy chased Raven down the hallway, dogging her heels and bombarding her with examples of his keen intellect. Most of the examples weren't that impressive, but that didn't dissuade him in the least. Both Sarah Rose and Drew drank in the friendly interaction, capturing every moment in digital immortality.

"I came here looking for Sawchak. You didn't: Sawchak scares you. So… why are you here?" Raven asked again, this time with a little more force behind the words. Beast Boy could tell he was beginning to irritate her and pulled back on the throttle.

"Okay," Beast Boy consented, giving Raven some space. "I wasn't looking for Sawchak. I was looking for Madeline." When Raven didn't recognize the name, Beast Boy prodded. "His intern?"

Raven turned fully to scrutinize Beast Boy, and he was forced, not for the first time, to feel like an insect being observed by a very judgmental and self-righteous kid with a magnifying glass. "That's a good idea. I take it you didn't find her?" Beast Boy kept his rapidly inflating ego in check enough to remember to shake his head.

Raven lapsed into silence and Beast Boy remembered that they were being recorded. It was a strange feeling, one he doubted he'd ever truly be comfortable with. It was just so invasive. Even Beast Boy's senses of personal space and privacy felt violated – and that was saying something. The changeling shifted.

"You should go back to the tower and try from there. Maybe you can get the others to help," Raven spoke slowly. "Sarah Rose and I still have a few things to look into: rental records, credit card bills – boring stuff," Raven said with the tiniest ghost of a smile in her voice.

"And how, exactly, am I going to get anything done at the tower with Stewart looming around corners ready to play twenty questions?" Beast Boy asked. He didn't want to admit it, but all these documentaries made him feel completely helpless. Stewart's had scared him out of his own home, and the one Raven and he had come up with was having a draining effect more potent than Robin's full-day training sessions. He didn't want to go back to the tower, not if he had to go alone.

"Use your imagination," Raven quipped, almost sounding happy. The empath and her shadow started down the hall again. Beast Boy vented a weary sigh as they departed. His imagination had been less and less reliable recently. Beast Boy wasn't sure he wanted to trust the entire team's reputation on such a liability. Still, Raven was willing to risk it, and that was reassuring, even if only a little.

ooooo

The living room had never been so deadly quiet. The usual boastful shouts were not coming from the couch, where Cyborg was sitting alone, staring at a documentary without seeing it. Robin's insistent tapping at the keyboard before the mainframe computer was still ringing through the room, but there was a depression behind the strokes that made the sound heart breaking. Starfire was nowhere to be seen. Given her sociable nature, that was unsettling; usually Starfire went where there were people.

Beast Boy stepped over the threshold without really wanting to. Jon, Cyborg's shadow, and Stewart were in there, and Beast Boy was not interested in being grilled by either of them. The youngest Titan fingered the sheet of paper folded in his pocket. He'd had Sarah Rose write it before he came back to the tower. It had been a spur of the moment idea, but Raven's suggestion of using his imagination had yielded a few worthwhile ideas. Hopefully Jon and Stewart couldn't recognize Sarah Rose's handwriting.

"Hey, Robbie-poo!" Beast Boy called, adopting his biggest grin and donning his most mischievous airs. Beast Boy heard something land behind him stiffly. Glancing back, Beast Boy saw Starfire walking down the hallway, apparently having just fallen from her hovering stance. Beast Boy gulped.

"What is it, Beast Boy?" Robin asked, his eyes narrowed behind his mask. Still, the nimble acrobat managed to keep most of the hatred from his voice. Stewart lit up next to Robin, his eyes returning to the primal glint that Beast Boy had come to dread so much. Beast Boy's heart went out to Robin: out of everyone, he'd gotten the worst deal when it came to shadows.

"I have a letter for you," Beast Boy said in a singsong voice as he withdrew the folded paper from his pocket. Beast Boy could feel Starfire getting closer and briefly wondered if he was in physical danger. He doubted it.

"It isn't from Kitten, is it?" Robin asked, all business, as usual.

"Kitten?" Stewart smiled, keeping his tone even behind the camera. Only his leer gave away his intent. Robin waved him off, promising to fill him later. Beast Boy thought Robin did a good job hiding his annoyance. And his fear. Stewart would declare a national holiday if he found out about Kitten. As much as Beast Boy hated to put his friend and leader in such a horrible position, it had been part of his plan all along.

"What makes you think that it's from Kitten?" Beast Boy asked impishly. "After all, Robbie-poo," Beast Boy smiled, putting extra emphasize on the infuriating nickname, "you have more than one admirer."

"B, what are you doing?" Cyborg asked from his perch on the couch.

"Well, I was just getting the mail earlier and this one caught my eye. No return address. What's that about, Robin? You seeing anybody while you're out _patrolling_?" Beast Boy flipped the letter open completely and began to read aloud. Beast Boy had gotten through the first half of the first sentence before the paper was snatched from his hand.

Starfire walked briskly to the sink, tearing the offending paper into pieces as she went. Beast Boy noticed that one lone section of paper managed to escape the onslaught, falling silently to the floor. Starfire reached the sink, turned on the water, soaked the paper, clumped it together, and tossed it down the drain. She switched on the garbage-disposal without a second glance. Beast Boy could only stare with his mouth agape. That hadn't been a part of the plan.

Stewart swooped down on the lone piece of paper and plucked it off the ground. "So, Robin, could you enlighten us? Who is Madeline?" Beast Boy strained his eyes to see the paper and almost laughed at his luck. The lone piece of paper was the signature Sarah Rose had forged; though, it only had a first name.

"I don't know a Madeline!" Robin sputtered, and Beast Boy was sorry to see that Robin's level head had just been knocked off balance. Beast Boy couldn't help but wonder if this was what Terra felt like when she betrayed them, if that was why she'd taken him out of the tower that night. He hated the thought and swatted it away.

"That's okay, buddy," Beast Boy called as he bounded to the mainframe computer and started typing. "I'll find her for you. She's crazy about you, man. I'd show you the letter but Star went a little psycho on it."

"You will do no such thing," Starfire seethed from next to the sink. The water was still running. "Robin does not know this Madeline and he does not wish to know her." Beast Boy felt something sharp dig into his gut, and he looked down expecting to see a knife. There wasn't one.

"I think Robin should be the judge of that, don't you, Cy?" Cyborg looked at Beast Boy with wild eyes, clearly not wanting to be dragged into the middle of this. Beast Boy needed Cyborg to get dragged in. There had to be a huge scene, otherwise Stewart and Jon and Claire wouldn't be distracted enough for him to do what he needed to do. Cyborg didn't say anything, but Beast Boy gave him a tiny wink.

"I hope you know what you're doing, BB," Cyborg shook his head. "But yes, I think Robin should be the judge of who belongs in his love life. So, Robin, you've never met this Madeline girl, right?" When Robin nodded stiffly Cyborg just chuckled. "Right..."

Starfire glared at Beast Boy then at Cyborg. Finally, horribly, she rounded her accusatory emerald eyes on Robin, who looked like he would have loved nothing more than to melt through the floor.

"Well, Robin?" Starfire asked, the honey and happiness that coated her words uncharacteristically mixed with potent venom. Beast Boy turned away from the unfolding scene and began his search in earnest. There couldn't be that many Madeline's in Jump City. He felt horrible, but they were one step closer to putting an end to the whole thing. Beast Boy glanced over his shoulder and shuddered. The knife in his gut twisted.

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**Author's Note:** There we have it, at long last. I hope that I managed to meet expectations with this chapter. Now please, drop a review, and, of course, have a nice day.

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	9. Chapter 9

Welcome back, readers. Woah and behold! - I updated in a semi-timely fashion. I hope everybody is continuing to have a good summer, and that, as always, you enjoy this little story of mine. 

I offer my heart-felt thanks to my readers and reviewers, whom without I would have no audience and no feedback, respectively.

So, readers: thanks for sticking around. Reviewers: Your words are worth their Scrabble score in Canadian dollars. Why Canadian? I really have no idea.

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Smile for the Camera

It had taken Beast Boy longer than he'd thought possible to weed through the Madeline's in the city. Eventually he'd found her. The reunion had not been pleasant. At first, the girl refused to speak to them. Beast Boy and Drew had tried everything to get the recently fired girl her to open up, but she'd been reluctant to talk. When Madeline did finally start talking it was to tell tales of overwhelming pressure and strong-arming. Apparently, Sawchak wasn't just a lawyer: he was a well-connected young man with a vindictive nature and a perfect memory.

Sitting in Madeline's cramped one-room apartment, pressing her for information and consoling her when she broke into tears, Beast Boy began to understand that his friends were dealing with something rivaling their other experiences. Beast Boy had thanked Madeline profusely and departed. He felt horrible, and his feeling of disgust only intensified when he remembered that the poor girl's every moment of weakness had been immortalized by Drew.

Even days after the fact, the trouble Beast Boy had started between Starfire and Robin was still at a high pitch, mainly because Starfire was protective. And Beast Boy was still having Sarah Rose write Robin letters posing as a rabid fan-girl. It was creepy how good she was at it. Every day without fail, there was a new love note in the mail. Some were generic – the usual fan-girl gibberish and easily dismissed. Some of them made Beast Boy feel genuinely sorry for his leader, even when he knew that the girl hounding Robin didn't exist.

As Beast Boy had planned Stewart was having a field day. The barbed questions and vague allegations had started slowly as Stewart got his feet under him and collected information. Now it was nothing short of verbal bombardment. Beast Boy had taken to avoiding Robin and Starfire, and not just because he needed to work on the counter-documentary. He didn't want to deal with the tension flying around the two friends. He also really didn't want to deal with Stewart and Claire. They were both vicious, though Claire still seemed to posses a little common-decency.

Raven and Sarah Rose had been hard to find during the day, often disappearing for hours at a time without explanation. Beast Boy suspected that the empath was trying to find Sawchak still. He didn't think she was having very much luck, and he missed having the demoness around. Raven was better at planning and logistics. Beast Boy needed the dark girl around now more than ever: he was making a mess of everything he touched.

ooooo

Sleep had been eluding him for hours. Beast Boy tossed and turned in bed, the half moon shining in through his bedroom window. Drew's camera was resting in its tripod, blessedly turned off. Drew was in the bunk under Beast Boy. He was snoring. Beast Boy turned over again, successfully cocooning himself in his blankets. Drew's snoring was only part of the reason Beast Boy couldn't sleep.

He flattened himself against his mattress and strained his ears. It always helped Beast Boy relax to hear his friend's breathing as they slept; to hear their hearts beating; to hear Cyborg preparing himself a midnight snack regardless of the actual time of night. Beast Boy listened for his friends, but it didn't bring him the peace it should have. Instead of the four people he was so used to, the changeling heard seven people, only three of them familiar. Raven and Sarah Rose were still missing. Beast Boy frowned and closed his eyes, willing himself to sleep and knowing that it wasn't going to work.

His eyelids were heavy, and slowly, lash by painful lash, they began to close.

Beast Boy shot up in bed. He wasn't sure if he had dozed off or not. He could hear someone moving around. Beast Boy climbed down from the top bunk silently, his keen eyes allowing him to exit without running into anything and waking Drew.

Beast Boy flitted from shadow to shadow without a sound as he approached the living room. The changeling paused before the door and closed his eyes. On the other side of the door Beast Boy could hear a very familiar heartbeat. The doors slid open and the elf stepped inside.

"Hey, Raven," Beast Boy said before his eyes actually found the girl. He knew she was in here.

"Beast Boy…" Raven replied. He used the response to pinpoint her. Raven was sitting at her reading spot, a large notebook open in her lap and a teacup and saucer hovering next to her hand. "What are you wearing?"

Beast Boy looked down at himself and groaned at his own stupidity. He hadn't bothered to change before leaving his room. The usual uniform of purple and black that Beast Boy wore had been replaced with an oversized shirt and a pair of boxers decorated with small yellow ducks. Beast Boy tried to stop the embarrassed blush creeping up his face. It didn't help much. When Beast Boy looked up he was grateful to see that Raven had gone back to her notebook, though the changeling didn't miss the smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth. There was a blanket shrouded in black hovering in front of him. Beast Boy took the blanket and wrapped it around his waist.

"What's that?" Beast Boy chuckled nervously once he had covered himself better. He walked over to Raven and sat down next to her. Raven handed him the notebook in response. There were a number of addresses and names arranged in a large list, many of them crossed out in black ink. A few had been marked with a red star. "So…" Beast Boy started again after perusing the list, "what is it?"

"A list," Raven chuckled.

"I see that," Beast Boy sighed exasperatedly, "but a list of what?" Raven gently took the notebook back and placed a thick black line through one of the names.

"Of people I need to talk to. I checked the rental logs, but Sawchak didn't rent that office through normal channels. He used middlemen, pseudonyms, and switched locations at the last minute more than once. These are the landlords, possible middlemen, and janitorial staffs." Beast Boy let out a low whistle. He'd known Raven had been looking for Sawchak. What he hadn't known was what that task entailed.

"How can you be sure Jefferson Sawchak isn't a fake name?"

"You heard him, Beast Boy. Do you honestly think he wants to hide from us? No, Sawchak wants us to know exactly who we're dealing with and why." Raven closed the notebook and leaned back into the couch. Beast Boy followed suite. The green boy closed his eyes and just listened. Raven's presence alone seemed to offer him some peace. Distantly, Beast Boy could hear a new heartbeat – he assumed it was Sarah Rose's – further into the tower, already slowing with sleep

"Sawchak's a lawyer, right," Beast Boy said with a small yawn. "Why don't we just check with big law firms?" As he spoke, Beast Boy kept his eyes closed. He was more tired than he'd thought. He could hear Raven shifting next to him. The green teen grudgingly opened his eyes and turned to face his friend. Raven was frowning.

"I already have. He's probably in a private practice. We won't find him through his work." They were silent for a minute. "You found the intern. What did she say?" Raven asked. Beast Boy related his conversation with Madeline and watched as Raven's frown became more and more pronounced.

"You haven't found Sawchak yet. Do you need help with that?" Beast Boy offered. There was nothing left to explain, no one left to interview, and Beast Boy did not want to be stuck in the tower alone, waiting for Raven to locate Sawchak. Raven shook her head, too quickly in Beast Boy's opinion.

"You need to stay here and distract the cameras. Everybody knows I'm the anti-social girl who never leaves her room. My absence can be overlooked. But if anybody notices and starts asking questions, you need to be here to redirect." Beast Boy scowled at Raven. The bitterness in her voice hurt him. He could only imagine what the words were doing to Raven. The empath ignored Beast Boy's reproachful glance and continued; "How would it look if Stewart started playing up the fact that the evil demon on the team not only avoids her teammates but also disappears without explanation?"

Beast Boy wasn't sure what to say. Everything Raven had said made sense, as much as he hated to admit it. Still, Beast Boy couldn't bring himself to stand up and walk away. He wanted to talk to Raven – they both needed it – but Beast Boy had no clue what to say.

"You never did forgive me, you know," Beast Boy said. The hollowness of his own voice scared him. He'd gone with the first thing that came to his mind and instantly regretted it. This was a bad time to bring up personal problems. Raven looked up at Beast Boy, locking eyes with him. Deep violet pools bore into Beast Boy's eyes. He wished Raven's emotions were as easy to read as he knew his own were.

"Yes, I did," Raven whispered. It was a soft confession, almost too quiet to be heard, yet it made the entire room look brighter in Beast Boy's eyes. Beast Boy looked away and broke eye contact.

"You never said anything," Beast Boy responded, his voice devoid of emotion. Raven actually laughed. In truth, it was more of a suppressed chuckle, but it got Beast Boy's attention all the same. The changeling looked back at Raven to find her smiling at him. Not truly laughing at him, not truly mocking him – just smiling at him.

"How often do I actually apologize?" Raven asked with a smirk. Thinking back on it, Beast Boy could come up with maybe four instances of Raven apologizing in the six years he'd known her. Not apologizing just to him, though. In six years Raven had apologized maybe four times. Twice had been to him, once had been to Starfire, and one more had been to Cyborg.

"You don't," Beast Boy supplied, "but it would make it a lot easier for other people if you did something to let them know they were off the hook," Beast Boy grinned back at Raven, feeling better in that moment than he had in weeks. Raven's smirk slipped away.

"Should I start keeping track of brownie points?"

"Would you?" Beast Boy asked quickly. Then he realized she was mocking him. The change was so subtle that it took Beast Boy a moment to figure out why Raven was looking at him like he'd sprouted a second head. "Of course not…" Beast Boy mumbled, more to himself than to Raven, but he knew she'd heard him.

"You don't need to worry too much, Beast Boy," Raven sighed. She reached up and took her tea from its levitating perch. Raven took a small sip of the warmed liquid before continuing. "I learned the hard way that it's impossible to stay mad at you."

"Really?" Raven's words had fazed him, but the changeling was recovering quickly. "You could have fooled me." Raven groaned when she saw Beast Boy giving her a Cheshire cat grin.

"You can't let compliments go, can you?" Raven said, her voice shifting back into the vague apathy that colored so much of Raven's life. Beast Boy grinned cheekily.

"Sorry, I just can tell what's a compliment and what isn't. It might help if you didn't sound so pained," he responded airily, making sure that Raven knew he was joking. Beast Boy thought he got the message across; he hoped Raven knew he was kidding. The last time he'd tried being witty and Raven had taken the friendly banter as an attack had ended poorly for the green elf.

"You want to hear pained?" Raven asked quietly. Her teacup rose into the air shrouded in black magic. Beast Boy panicked when he saw the steam rising from the cup. He started to relax as soon as the up and down motion of Raven's shoulders registered. She was laughing.

"Hey!" Beast Boy called. Beast Boy lowered his arms and scowled at Raven. He didn't remember putting his hands up, but there was no mistaken the position that so clearly begged for people not to shoot. The slight glint in his eyes gave away what Beast Boy really thought of the joke. "That isn't funny! I mean, you could have just scared me for life. You've dumped tea on me before…"

"Cold tea," Raven cut off Beast Boy's rant. He mistook the correction as evidence of Raven's kindness until she continued; "I have never wasted fresh tea on you." He wasn't sure how to respond to that. As Beast Boy mulled over his possible responses, he began to feel like something was wrong. It only took a few seconds for him to figure out what it was, and once Beast Boy had figured it out he was terrified.

"Hey, Stewart," Beast Boy called as calmly as he could. Beast Boy watched Raven's eyes shoot open in response to his words as the empath tried to maintain control. "Don't you ever sleep?" Beast Boy asked, still sitting on the couch, mainly because he was afraid his knees would start a rendition of _Stomp_ if he tried to stand up.

"I could ask the two of you the same question, no?" Stewart replied gruffly. His voice rung like a gun shot in the previously calm and relaxed air. Beast Boy chanced a real look over at Stewart and was rewarded with a piercing gaze from a blood red light. Stewart walked down the steps slowly. Beast Boy saw the living room doors slide shut. It surprised him that Raven and he hadn't noticed the doors opening. There was no telling how long Stewart had been recording them. Judging by the glint in Stewart's eyes, Beast Boy was willing to bet it had been too long.

"So, Beast Boy, Raven, what are you doing up at this hour?" Stewart asked calmly as he panned around the empty room. Beast Boy bit back a groan when Stewart's camera lingered on the broken clock in the kitchen that always read 3:17. That was just what they needed. It was late, but it wasn't as late as that one well-placed shot would make it seem.

"It wouldn't have anything to do with why the two of you have been so secretive, would it?" Stewart continued. Beast Boy threw a glance in Raven's direction but the demoness was completely composed. Stewart fixed his camera on the couch and the two Titans occupying it. Stewart looked straight into Beast Boy's eyes. The changeling could feel the probe in the gaze. Stewart was measuring him up, studying his reactions and looking for a weakness.

"What makes you think we've been secretive?" Raven asked skeptically. Beast Boy marveled at the art of the question. A flat out denial could come back and bite them, but a mocking question was just as effective at deflecting attention. Stewart wasn't deterred.

"I guess I misspoke," Stewart replied lightly. "What I mean is that you and Beast Boy have been hard people to find recently. Are you always so hard to find?" Stewart asked with a light smirk. He'd taken the same approach as Raven.

"Have we been hard to find?" Beast Boy asked. He cursed himself immediately for trying to join the sparring match between Stewart and Raven. Both of them were out of his league. "I mean, I've been here most of the time," Beast Boy amended quickly.

"That's true," Stewart conceded with a small nod. Beast Boy didn't like that. "I was actually referring more to Raven here." Stewart fixed the camera on Raven specifically. "Robin was looking for you earlier. Did you know that?" A shadow of shock sprinted across Raven's features. Beast Boy hoped the camera hadn't caught it, but he knew, inside, that their luck wasn't that good.

"I was out," Raven remarked as if Stewart was pointing out the most mundane thing imaginable. "Robin knows I always have my communicator with me." Beast Boy looked back and forth between the two verbal combatants, watching an intense volley only he could see. Beast Boy wasn't sure, but it almost seemed like Raven had just implied Stewart was lying. It hadn't been anything in her voice or even in her actions. There was just something about her in that moment.

Stewart reached up with one hand a flicked a switch on the camera. The all-seeing eye winked out.

"Maybe I was looking for you, then," Stewart said. Beast Boy was horrified by the change in his voice. The Stewart the changeling had come to despise and fear in equal measure always spoke with a jovial, somewhat grandfatherly rasp that only hinted at the malice in his eyes. With the camera off and all unfriendly eyes and ears gone, Stewart sounded as harsh as his eyes looked.

"Starfire and Robin might have gotten into a nice heart-to-heart today," Stewart continued. Beast Boy stiffened in his seat. He had a very bad feeling about this. "I might have stepped out for a bit and let Claire document the event. Meanwhile, I might have gone looking for the rest of your team. I might have found Cyborg easily enough and then left. Then I might have gone looking for Beast Boy and eavesdropped on an interesting conversation, allowing me to make an interesting discovery. After that discovery, I might have gone looking for you, Raven."

"Imagine my surprise," Stewart whispered, "when I discovered that you were missing. I may have talked to Starfire later and seen a flash of recognition on her face before being supplied with a nice little lie that didn't stand up under scrutiny." Stewart had gotten closer as he spoke, eyes boring holes through everything they saw. Beast Boy tried, unsuccessfully, to still his beating heart.

Beast Boy glanced at Raven out of the corner of his eye. She looked perfectly collected, but Beast Boy could smell her fear. If there was anything that could have made the changeling more nervous that was it. Raven didn't do fear.

"You don't have anything but suspicions," Beast Boy spoke up, rashly disregarding the alarms blaring in his head, screaming at him to shut up and make himself small. Raven needed help. Stewart calmly turned to Beast Boy and regarded the boy as if he'd just registered his presence. Beast Boy drew away from the gaze, wishing that his voice had come out stronger. Beast Boy continued, disregarding the warning he was getting from Raven.

"If you had anything you would have confronted us or brought in Sawchak again. You don't have anything; you won't get anything." Beast Boy glared at Stewart. The ancient man returned the look.

"Is that a challenge?"

"It's a fact," Beast Boy said simply as he settled deeper into the couch. "How can you get anything when there isn't anything to get?" Beast Boy waited for Stewart's response. The wizened man's brows arched before he pivoted and walked out of the room. The confident clicking of his dress shoes against the floor made it all too clear to Beast Boy that this was merely a tactical retreat on his part. The room was completely silent once Stewart departed. Beast Boy smirked at Raven. The empath closed her eyes, no doubt searching for Stewart's nearby aura, before nodding and opening her eyes once more.

"I'm impressed," Raven said dryly. It wasn't her usual dry voice. Raven took her still hovering teacup and placed the now cold liquid to her lips, trying to restore the moisture to her mouth. Beast Boy couldn't stop himself from shivering. Raven had actually been afraid. "How did you know he didn't have anything concrete?"

"Well, I had a good teacher," Beast Boy drew out the sentence and realized he'd been acting on his intuition alone. No, it hadn't even been his intuition. Beast Boy's intuition had been telling him to shut up. He'd acted for the sole reason that he'd recognized Raven needed his help. He was just beginning to wrap his mind around that and what it would have meant if he had been wrong. He left the explanation hanging. He'd acted on his emotions alone.

"Who?" Raven asked.

"Now who can't let compliments go?" Beast Boy chuckled. Raven was only confused for a second before a smile broke through her emotionless mask. Raven drained the last of her tea and stood to leave. With a small wave of her hand, her empty cup and saucer flew to the seemingly endless supply of dirty dishes near the sink.

Beast Boy stood up as well. The changeling stretched his arms over his head to work out all the stiffness. He hadn't been able to sleep earlier, but there was no denying that Beast Boy was tired. Raven watched her teammate as he stretched, oblivious to his surroundings or the blanket that was beginning to slip down from his waist.

Beast Boy had been so trusting during this entire ordeal. Even when things looked to be at their worst, Beast Boy was ready to look up to Raven and trust her judgement. And when her judgement failed Beast Boy was ready to jump into the fray – at his own expense – in order to buy her time. His trust was touching, and Raven wasn't positive how well placed it was.

He had been through so much, seen so much, done so much, lost so much. Raven had always suspected that Beast Boy was more than a green comedian, but the truth behind the changeling was shocking. Raven had avoided mentioning her trip into his most secret memories, mainly because she wasn't sure what she should do or say. Instead of being offended, instead of pressing the subject, Beast Boy just let it slide. He let it slide, she knew, because he trusted that Raven would address it when it needed to be addressed. Raven wasn't too sure about that.

Beast Boy grabbed Raven's notebook once he'd finished stretching and tossed it to the quiet girl. She seemed in her own little world, and Beast Boy almost cried out a warning when it seemed the notebook would hit her.

The notebook stopped mere centimeters from Raven's nose. The empath looked from the notebook back to Beast Boy. Violet pools connected with Beast Boy's eyes and he could tell that something was bothering her. Raven's emotions were still guarded (Beast Boy had no real reason to think something was bothering the demoness) but he just had a feeling.

"What's up, Rae," Beast Boy said as the girl in question took her notebook from its floating position. She seemed to debate with herself before speaking. Beast Boy waited attentively for her to choose her words.

"We haven't really gotten a chance to talk recently. How have you been doing, Beast Boy?" The changeling grinned at the awkwardness of Raven's question. She needed practice with the whole emotion thing, and after the stress of staring down Stewart, Beast Boy couldn't think of anything in the world that was funnier. Raven's calm and collected exterior rippled and split when confronted with emotions. Beast Boy had seen it before, though usually he was never the reason. It felt good.

"I guess I'm holding on," Beast Boy replied honestly. "There are times when it all seems like just another game with Cyborg. But usually I'm just nervous. And I keep getting the feeling I'm going to do or say something wrong." Beast Boy faltered in his explanation as he tried to figure out how to express his thoughts. "I've been feeling guilty for no reason. I'll feel sad and not know why…" Beast Boy trailed off for a moment. "Did you do anything when you were… you know… in my head?" The elf looked up hesitantly. It had been something on his mind for a while, gnawing at him, but he'd pushed it back each time, only to have more trouble pushing it away next time.

Raven only nodded. She had done what had seemed like a good idea at the time. She had done what seemed necessary. Now, it seemed like a stupid and manipulative thing to do.

"You remember when you found out about the collapsed roof?" Raven prodded gently. Beast Boy nodded. He remembered. It seemed a lifetime away. Still, he could vividly feel the shock and on-setting depression. Yet at the same time, they seemed like somebody else's emotions. Almost as if they had been numbed. There had been a presence pulling him away from the emotions. Beast Boy's gaze snapped up and fixed on Raven's face. She looked guilty. And sorry. Beast Boy felt the accusatory glare slipping away before it had truly formed.

Raven could almost see the cogs clicking together in Beast Boy's head. She wasn't sure what to expect, but Raven knew that she would have been livid if somebody else had invaded her mind without express permission. Beast Boy frowned at his bare feet.

Then he yawned.

"Well, I'm going to bed. Night, Rae!" Beast Boy called as he walked out of the room with the blanket wrapped tightly around his waist. Beast Boy paused in the threshold. "We should probably talk when all this is done," he suggested before disappearing. Raven could only stare after him. He'd been through so much; and he was so forgiving.

Raven shook her head before heading for her own room. She needed to meditate a little before she went to sleep.

* * *

**Author's Note**: There we have it. Another happy chapter of Smile for the Camera, Smile, or SFTC. Which one depends on which you prefer and how lazy you are. :-) Please, take a moment to tell me what you think. Good, bad, neutral, queries, randomness...Oh, and before I forget, the next chapter will either be out either very soon (less than a week), or, more likely, very long. Readers of old will be used to it. Sorry guys. Life has a habit of getting in the way and I'm going on vacation.

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	10. Chapter 10

Okay. When I said that the next update would probably take a while, even I hadn't thought it would be _this_ long. So, a million apologies to my readers and reviewers. I know that promptness is something I appreciate in authors, and I can only assume that other people enjoy that quality as well. I could give you the reasons for the delay, but they really aren't that unusual or interesting. :-)

I hate to do this to you after such a long wait, but I don't know how quickly I can get the next chapter out either.

So, without any further delays, I would like to submit for your reading pleasure the tenth chapter of SFTC.

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Smile for the Camera

Beast Boy slid the front door of Titan's Tower open slowly. He could never act naturally when he preformed this task. Mainly because he could never shake the feeling that he was doing something wrong. It didn't matter how often he'd done it or how well he'd rationalized it; it still felt wrong.

The sun was just beginning to lift itself out of the ocean, and the bay looked spectacular. Shy rays of light were pulling themselves into the sky, coloring the fog filled city and warming the world with their touch. The wind swirled up from the earth, towing behind it the sting of melting slush. The cold bit at Beast Boy's nose and ears, making the young elf shudder.

Everybody was still asleep, as far as Beast Boy knew. He stepped out of the tower and allowed the doors to close behind him. The changeling took a deep breath until his nose and throat started to throb. The chill helped him clear his head, and he needed to have a clear head for at least the next minute or two.

Beast Boy reached into his pocket and fingered today's love note. Sarah Rose had written it before she went to sleep last night. Beast Boy had been worried about that at first, but it hadn't looked like anyone had found the message during the night. Beast Boy had skimmed the message before sticking it in his pocket and heading out. He needed to get it into the mailbox and get back inside before he was missed. Maybe then he could catch up on his sleep.

Beast Boy hurried away from the tower, his shoulders hunched against the wind. The ground was brown and barren. What little vegetation had lasted into the winter had been killed by the recent snow. All that remained was fresh mud. He hurried to the mailbox. Beast Boy couldn't stop himself from throwing nervous glances over his shoulder: Stewart's expression last night had embedded itself in Beast Boy's mind.

Still, even Stewart couldn't be everywhere and see everything.

Beast Boy arrived at the mailbox out of breath, though he'd been moving in a careful crouch. There had been enough sneaking and lying in the past few days to keep the prankster happy and docile for years. The changeling's breath came out in icy puffs. The white mist lingered for a few moments before disappearing completely, leaving behind nothing but a hint of warmth that vanished all too quickly. Beast Boy fished through his pocket and withdrew the forged love note. He thrust it into the mailbox and slammed the lid shut.

The sound of aluminum clashing together reverberated through the air. It gave Beast Boy a strange sense of closure to slam the lid shut on those notes. The green teen pivoted on the balls of his feet and came to an abrupt stop. Everything stopped. Beast Boy's next breath caught in his throat, threatening to suffocate him; his heart jarred dangerously in his chest, and the changeling was almost convinced the organ had stopped completely.

"Good morning, Beast Boy," Stewart said cheerfully. He continued quickly. "I always assumed you to be a late sleeper. You're usually the last Titan on the scene, right?" The glint was back in Stewart's eyes. The cameraman looked more dangerous than Beast Boy had ever seen him.

The changeling dragged himself back to the real world. "Dude! Don't you ever sleep?" Beast Boy cringed at how frantic he sounded. There wasn't a single thing about his body language that didn't scream guilty. He knew that. Worse still, he knew Stewart knew it.

Stewart smirked from behind his camera. Beast Boy tried to keep calm, to maintain eye contact, to not fidget. Nothing worked. Stewart traipsed over to the mailbox as Beast Boy tried to keep himself from going crazy. Stewart would find the note, he'd know that all of them had been faked, he'd figure out that Beast Boy was trying to hide something. And then he would find out what it was. There wasn't a single corner of his mind that allowed Beast Boy to think otherwise. Everything was about to fall apart. Unless he could stop it.

"You scared me," Beast Boy continued as Stewart approached the mailbox. He was being ignored. Still, Beast Boy thought he had one trump card. He only hoped it didn't explode too quickly. "For a second I thought you were somebody I should worry about."

Stewart turned away from the mailbox casually, but Beast Boy didn't miss the hatred burning in every crease of the man's face. Stewart liked control, and like so many before him, Stewart equated control with power and power with fear.

"And who exactly would you need to be worried about?" Stewart asked. It was the first time Beast Boy had ever noticed the aged cameraman being careful with his words. There was no question that he was always doing it when the cameras were around; still, this was the first time it had been obvious.

"Robin. Starfire. And Raven, usually, too. She's never likes my pranks, even when they have nothing to do with her."

"You woke up this early to play a prank?" Stewart asked.

"Yeah," Beast Boy said. "There was a girl a while back who went gaga over Robin. She was a complete nut case. Anyway, I've been forging notes from her to Robin." Beast Boy chuckled. "It's been priceless."

"The notes from Madeline were forged then?"

"Maybe…" Beast Boy twiddled his thumbs innocently. He could see Stewart following the story point by point, looking for a mistake or a contradiction. As long as he didn't find anything suspect, the aged cameraman would have no reason to research Madeline. If he started looking for Madeline and found out that she worked for Sawchak, however, things would get ugly quickly.

Sawchak turned back to the mailbox and opened it. "You won't mind if I take a look," he said, but Beast Boy was already gone.

ooooo

Beast Boy and Drew were sitting outside her room when Raven opened the door that morning. The changeling was hunched over against a wall with his head cradled in his hands. At first, Raven didn't think the boy had seen her.

"How close are we to being done?" Beast Boy asked before Raven was out of her room. Sarah Rose stepped around Raven to get a better shot of the changeling.

"I don't know. Unless we can find Sawchak, it could be a while." Raven started walking to the living room. "Are you coming?"

Beast Boy got to his feet stiffly. Raven waited for a few moments as the boy got off the floor with undo sloth. Then she turned and walked away. Beast Boy was at her shoulder moments later.

"We might have a problem with Madeline," Beast Boy said. Raven stopped. "I was putting the letter in the mailbox earlier and Stewart saw me. I think I convinced him it was just a prank, but if he does a back-ground check or calls Sawchak then we're in trouble."

Beast Boy watched Raven mull over the information. Even as he watched, the elf was convinced that he could see all the gears and tumblers and whatever else turning in her head. Raven would come up with some sort of plan, some sort of safeguard.

"We can't do anything about that. As long as you didn't say anything to provoke him, he might not even look into it." Raven studied Beast Boy's face. "You provoked him."

The changeling shuffled his feet, suddenly very interested in the hole his big toe was wearing in the left shoe. "Yes..."

Raven groaned before starting toward the living room again. Beast Boy followed behind her, still expecting some sort of miracle to jump out of her head. The empath was a genius at strategy. Raven was, really, an overall genius. She would know what to do; she just needed time to think.

After finishing a cup of tea in silence (even Beast Boy had been mute), Raven was no closer to an answer. Drew and Sarah Rose recorded each moment – Beast Boy's expectant face, Raven's calm movements.

"If we find Sawchak," Raven said at last, "we'll never get him to admit he set us up. We don't have any proof, and this will look bad without it." Raven gestured to Drew and Sarah Rose, the stolen camera crew. Beast Boy nodded.

"So… what do we do?"

"I'm not sure there is anything we can do, Beast Boy. Madeline's interview is only worth so much. She was fired after we signed the contract, so everything she said could be chalked up to a disgruntled former employee."

"Wait, Madeline was fired?" Beast Boy asked. She hadn't mentioned that when they talked, and she was the strongest support they had.

Raven only nodded. The living room was empty. Cyborg had come in earlier, but after seeing Beast Boy, Raven, and their shadows sitting in silence he left quickly. Beast Boy had toyed with the idea of watching some TV, but had elected to stay silent. Robin and Starfire were both missing; Beast Boy was positive they were in a room somewhere, being forced into an interview about the love letters.

Beast Boy poked his index fingers together, glancing hopefully up at Raven's face as time passed. The empath took no notice of him; the demoness continued to stare at some invisible thing floating out over the bay. Drew and Sarah Rose set their cameras up in their tripods and played rock, paper, scissors. Sarah Rose was winning.

Beast Boy let his attention wander. It was a pacific moment, and the boy treasured it. So much had been going on – he hadn't stopped to think recently. Beast Boy chuckled. He'd never expected he would miss thinking time. The cameras hadn't been in the tower very long; still, every moment was a battle now. Beast Boy closed his eyes.

The changeling couldn't pin down when this catastrophe had started – or what started it. Reading fanfiction could have been it, but Sawchak had lost his sister years before that. He might have just found another way to torment them. This was a battle unlike any Beast Boy had ever fought in. There were no enemies to beat, no criminals to catch, no clear lines between the right thing and the wrong thing. Instead, there was just Stewart and his obtrusive crewmembers.

Beast Boy was jarred from his thoughts. At first, he couldn't tell what had distracted him. The alarms were flaring bright red and a cascade of screeches was flying through the tower. Beast Boy jumped up as soon as the sound registered.

Robin and Starfire charged into the room. Beast Boy couldn't help but smirk when he saw Stewart limping behind them. Robin was pounding away at the mainframe terminal before his aging shadow caught up. The screen flashed to a grid-map of the city, zooming in quickly under the guidance of Robin's nimble fingers. Raven arched an eyebrow at the screen. Beast Boy could understand why: ever since the final battle against the Brotherhood of Evil, villains had been rare. Professional criminals the world over were an endangered species.

"Where is Cyborg?" Starfire asked. Beast Boy glanced around the room. His metallic friend was missing. The changeling shrugged. Raven closed her eyes and planted her fingers against her temples. Beast Boy frowned.

"We'll have to do without him," Robin said as the computer screen fixed on a quadrant of the city dangerously close to the power plant. Starfire floated into the air and headed for the door. Robin and Raven followed quickly.

"Cy," Beast Boy said as he pulled out his communicator. "Where are you?" The communicator crackled with static before Cyborg's voice drifted from the electronic device.

"I'm already heading there, B. Hurry up. I did a seismic scan and it looks bad. I'm talking lost remote bad." The communicator dissolved back into static. Beast Boy flipped the device shut before giving Drew, the only shadow who hadn't run from the room, a feral grin.

"Try to keep up."

ooooo

Beast Boy sprinted into an alley. The dumpster was overflowing, full of discarded fruit peels and half-eaten fish. It would have been a perfect smorgasbord for the starving homeless if not for the police station across the street. The fish were left to the cats. The concrete was chilled and cracked, viciously lashed by winter's whip. Cars zoomed past at forty miles an hour, and Beast Boy instinctively hid his face behind his hands: he was too recognizable.

Drew had been hard to lose. Beast Boy had been afraid of looking like he was running away, and because of it spend long minutes going in complicated circles under the guise of being lost. Drew had disappeared four blocks ago. Beast Boy only hoped everyone else got Cyborg's cryptic message.

After catching his breath, Beast Boy morphed into a falcon and took to the air. His large wings grabbed at the swirling currents swept up by the traffic, and the changeling was soaring in moments. Beast Boy scoped the streets below him for Drew; he didn't see him. Satisfied, Beast Boy turned to the bay. With deft, effortless movements, Beast Boy sailed through the air, enjoying the chill breeze as it whispered through his feathers.

ooooo

The docks hadn't changed much since Beast Boy's last visit to them. Rusted barges and long-dead cruisers floated in the gray sea, bobbing up and down with the tide like a forlorn yo-yo. Beast Boy perched on a smokestack and waited. It took a while, but Robin eventually swung into view. The Boy Wonder was alone.

Robin scanned the storehouses. Beast Boy thought he saw his leader's gaze halt on one wall. The Boy Wonder pinned an old man there by the throat once, long ago. Beast Boy spread his wings before hopping from the quiescent smokestack. He swooped down to Robin and morphed into his human form.

"It took you long enough," Beast Boy said around chattering teeth. "I was freezing my tail off up there."

"Your hindquarters appear undamaged to me," Starfire said from behind him. Beast Boy jumped: he hadn't known Starfire was here. He could tell from Robin's frown that Starfire was inspecting his bottom.

"It's just an expression, Starfire," Robin said. The Tamaranian nodded in understanding.

"So… where're Cy and Rae?" Beast Boy asked. His lips shook as he spoke, but his teeth were mercifully silent.

The docks felt like a graveyard. Except instead of tombstones there were dying ships. Instead of flowers there was the must of mildewed wood. Beast Boy scrunched his nose up to block the scent, but he knew from past experience that it wasn't possible.

"Friend Cyborg said he was already on his way," Starfire intoned helpfully. "It is likely that he is already here, watching to be assured that we were not followed." Beast Boy was willing to take Starfire's word on that. He hadn't seen Cyborg though, and the cybernetic superhero was easy to see.

"How'd you get rid of your shadows?" Beast Boy asked, mostly to kill time and distract himself from his frigid limbs.

"I outran him," Robin said dismissively. It occurred to Beast Boy that Robin was upset about the notes Sarah Rose forged. Beast Boy chuckled nervously. Robin glared at him and the weak sound died in his throat. Beast Boy shuffled away a few inches. There would be a time and place to explain everything he'd been doing, but it would be better if Raven was there when he did explain it. The dark girl could almost always talk Robin down from madness.

Beast Boy pricked his ears up and listened. He could hear the light click of Cyborg's feet as they walked across the shattered concrete. The cybernetic teenager rounded a corner and walked over to the assembled Titans.

"You guys know where Rae is?" Cyborg repeated Beast Boy's earlier question. Everybody shook their heads. Cyborg frowned and scanned the nearby rooftops, as if expecting Raven to hover over one at any moment. "You guys don't think she couldn't get away…"

"No way," Beast Boy interposed. "Sarah Rose is cool; she's working with us." His friend's looked at him. Beast Boy felt the blood rushing to his face, and he was thankful that it was next to impossible to tell when he blushed.

"Raven and I were working with Drew and Sarah Rose, our shadows," he amended when the names didn't register with his teammates. "We were filming a counter documentary to release when Sawchak's came out. You know, show what really happened."

"So all the times you disappeared and all the distractions you set up were to work on your documentary?" Robin asked. His tone was harsh and full of skepticism, yet at the same time, Beast Boy could feel his leader's anger ebb. Beast Boy nodded.

"If Friend Raven was working on this other movie, why is she not here?" Starfire asked. "If the Sarah Rose did not detain Raven, where is she?" Beast Boy had no answer to that. The changeling pulled out his communicator but thought better of it. If Raven had run into trouble, she didn't need, and probably didn't want, him calling to check up.

"She'll catch up later," Beast Boy said with more confidence than he felt.

Robin nodded his agreement. "We're too exposed here. Raven knows how to contact us. Let's move." Beast Boy flexed his fingers, wincing when they cracked as if the knuckles themselves had frozen. Starfire frowned out at the horizon where one gray melted into another – sky and sea an indiscernible blur.

"We should wait," was all she said, but the Tamaranian floated after her teammates as they entered storehouse thirteen. Water dripped from a broken pipe concealed in the rafters and landed with a dull plop within the maze of crates.

Cyborg unfolded a floodlight from his shoulder and cast a brilliant light into the dank space. Robin moved assuredly from crate to crate, working from a photographic memory that would lead him to the concealed tunnel. The Boy Wonder stopped before a large crate that smelt of wet mothballs.

Robin shoved the obstacle aside. Then he disappeared down the hole the crate had been covering. Beast Boy sprung down after the acrobat, morphing into a rat so he could move more easily through the irregular tunnel. Starfire crouched down behind him with a starbolt in hand. Cyborg was forced to slither on his stomach; his chest plate grated against the granite and sent tortured shrieks through the storehouse.

The tunnel leveled eventually and the horrible screeching stopped. Beast Boy scurried after his leader. The changeling had never been down here before – like so many of the Teen Titans emergency holds, this place was never used. Beast Boy felt the engine vibrating through the stone before he saw the room.

The place was a cavern carved of living rock. Condensation clung to the smooth walls, frozen in place until the winter passed. Dying incandescent light flowed from niches in the walls. One of the bulbs was humming insistently, a warning bell that it would soon burn out.

"We should be able to operate out of here," Robin said as he booted up an ancient computer in the corner that Beast Boy hadn't noticed. The monitor was dusty and pixilated.

Beast Boy shivered. It had nothing to do with the cold. "What now?" he whispered. In response Robin started hammering a code into the computer. Flawlessly, the entire computer screen lit. Beast Boy recognized Titan's Tower and all its security cameras. He hadn't known there was a backdoor into the security grid.

"You and Rae weren't the only people keeping busy," Cyborg chided after seeing Beast Boy's expression. Robin cut off the impending argument before it could build momentum.

"We need to all get on the same page," Robin said as the tapes began to rewind. Beast Boy glanced around the spacious cavern again. Raven was still missing.

Starfire placed her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. It was just like it had been so many years ago, one of those rare occasions where the Tamaranian princess knew the exact measure of her strength and how much of it was required. Beast Boy took comfort from Starfire, absorbing and containing the squeeze, capturing the force and energy and vitality and adding it to his own dwindling supply.

"Raven is well. She will come."

* * *

**Author's Note**: I hope everybody enjoyed that. It was a little shorter than a few of the longer chapters, but hopefully the writing made up for that. As always, I welcome your theories, opinions, praise, and critique, so, please, review. 

A small note to readers - from those who were with me from the beginning to those who caught up today: this story will be coming to a close soon. I see a few more chapters on the horizon, but this fanfiction is approaching its end. Stick around and see how that comes about.

* * *


	11. Chapter 11

Hello to my readers, new and old. It is fantastic to be posting something again. Sorry for the delay. I wish I could promise a swift update. However, the wrestling season has just picked up, and my free time has just become even more restricted. But enough of that. This story (as I have mentioned before) is coming to a close. I see a maximum of three more posts on the horizon, but one or two is much more likely. Thanks for joining me for the ride, hope you had fun. Of course, we're not done yet - I'm just giving ample heads-up; it makes me sad when a story ends without it being obvious that it's on the way. I'm weird, I know...

Enjoy. And please remember that constructive criticism makes me glow inside.

* * *

Smile for the Camera

Beast Boy sat cross-legged as the pixilated screen recounted hour after hour of security footage. The changeling hadn't known Cyborg installed extra cameras and sound equipment, but he was thankful for it; it would help with the counter-documentary, especially now that Drew and Sarah Rose weren't with them anymore.

Robin had shown unbelievable fortitude against Stewart's barbed questions. Seeing and hearing the Boy Wonder in action was awe-inspiring. Beast Boy had respected the legendary Robin when they first met. Then he got to know him. The respect had built up over the years, and it was finally, once again, what it should be. Robin was a hero and a genius in every sense of the word.

Starfire and Cyborg hadn't been able to get away with much, their shadows were far too watchful. Still, they had both helped in their own ways. As he watched, Beast Boy found himself wondering how he could have thought only Raven and he were fighting back. Starfire had saved him when he'd moved the file cabinet to his room, and Cyborg had distracted his shadow for hours. Looking at the time stamp, Beast Boy realized it was one of the days Raven and Sarah Rose had gone in search of Sawchak.

The recorded sound bytes came from the computer in gargled fits of white noise. The video lagged. Still, it was something. Cyborg fast-forwarded through the nights and slow points; he'd seen all the footage before apparently and knew what was important. They had been watching the tapes for a couple of hours before Beast Boy heard something scraping across the rock.

The changeling picked his ears up, turning toward the only opening in the cavern. He waited. There was a soft clattering of stone as dislodged rocks were kicked across the irregular tunnel floor. Beast Boy cut his hand through the air, and Cyborg muted the surveillance records.

Beast Boy narrowed his eyes at the only entrance into the base. It was also the only exit: they were trapped. Whoever was coming down the passage wasn't familiar with it. The footfalls were often followed by clattering stone, and every step was taken slowly.

Starfire smiled brightly and zipped into the tunnel. "Raven! We were most concerned about you," the Tamaranian called moments later. Beast Boy felt his spirits lift. Raven said something in response, but even Beast Boy's ears couldn't discern what the demoness was saying. Seconds later Starfire and Raven stepped into the cavern.

"You," Raven said while jabbing a finger at Beast Boy, "are an idiot." Beast Boy gaped at the empath; he couldn't remember doing anything wrong. Raven looked annoyed but otherwise unharmed. There was a black bag draped over each of her shoulders. Beast Boy recognized them as the same casing Drew and Sarah Rose used for their cameras.

He chuckled. "So you, um… got the cameras?" The changeling could feel the intensity of Raven's glare. She had a right to be annoyed. Beast Boy had bolted at the first chance he got, but he'd left both Drew and the camera behind. Drew was trustworthy, Beast Boy was positive of that, but the footage was incriminating beyond reason. Raven swung the cameras off her shoulders and handed them to Cyborg. The metallic teen took them without argument.

"Raven," Robin asked when he saw the cameras, "how did you manage to get those?"

The empath smirked. "Sarah Rose and Drew both gave them to me. They'll go to Stewart when they wake up with a very convincing story about how Beast Boy and I attacked them. We'll take a hit in the documentary, but it buys us time in the long-term."

"Sounds like it's the short-term we should be worried about," Cyborg observed. He was sitting on a ratty couch with the cameras next to him. The sofa was one of the only pieces of furniture down here.

"Cyborg is correct," Starfire sighed. Beast Boy frowned; Starfire sighing had never been a good sign to him. "If I were to assume the role of the Sawchak or Stewart, I would do my best to get news of your assault spread quickly." The Tamaranian princess locked her hands together in front of her and stared at them contemplatively. "You did not damage them, did you, Raven?"

"Not more than I had to," Raven responded. Robin threw the empath a glare that she happily returned. "I know it isn't a perfect sequence of events," Raven said, "but it's the best we could do. Nothing will change our position so we just need to deal with it. Now that we can move freely, we need to take full advantage of that freedom."

Robin crossed his arms across his chest. "Now that we're all AWOL, Stewart is going to move as quickly as possible to finish his documentary. If Drew and Sarah Rose say they were attacked when you and Beast Boy escaped then it's going to smear the entire team!"

"Temporarily," Beast Boy said. The changeling cut his hand through the air to keep Robin from speaking. "We'll all look temporarily bad. Big deal! We knew that would happen anyway – that isn't Raven's fault. Or Cyborg's," Beast Boy added when the acrobat turned to the oldest Titan.

"B's got a point, man," Cyborg said. "Right now we just need to work as hard as Stewart. Both versions need to get out at the same time. Then the public can make their own decisions."

Beast Boy could tell Robin didn't like the idea (Beast Boy wasn't too fond of it himself) but it was the best they had. In the end, the people would have to choose which version of events they trusted. Most of them would take a little of both. Beast Boy resolved to never look at a blog or a fanfiction about the Titans again. That was a branch of speculation he didn't want polluting his head.

Beast Boy hopped over the back of the couch and landed on the cushions. There was a loose spring somewhere, and it jabbed against him until he moved. Beast Boy didn't know what made him look over at Raven, but when the changeling glanced at the empath she was smiling. Her lips barely moved as she mouthed two words: thank you.

ooooo

Beast Boy woke up the next morning stiff. He'd fallen asleep as a cat and spent most of the night curled in a ball. The green kitten yawned widely and unfurled. It stretched out its legs and arched its back. Moments later, Beast Boy was picking himself off his hands and knees.

Beast Boy yawned and looked around the cavernous base. There was a steady click of plastic on plastic coming from the corner. When the green elf glanced in the sound's direction he saw Raven levitating off the floor. Her cape flowed gracefully around her slender frame and pooled on the floor. Floppy disks swathed in black magic were flying from cardboard boxes and arranged themselves in piles. Raven's sorting was the only sound save occasional whirring from the computer. It was taking the film off the stolen cameras and transferring it to an electronic medium. Beast Boy started when he realized Raven was the only person down here with him.

He took a moment to wake up before calling out. "Rae, where's everyone else?" His voice came out in a horrible croak, and Beast Boy swallowed. Raven finished looking at a floppy disk's title before sending it to one of the growing piles.

"There was an emergency. Starfire, Robin, and Cyborg are on the surface taking care of it," Raven intoned without turning around. Her voice sounded strained.

"Why aren't you up there helping?" Beast Boy asked hesitantly. "Why aren't I?" he added as the question popped into his head. Raven pivoted in the air. Her cloak slithered across the stone floor like a python. Her face was pale, and Beast Boy felt his heart jar as a flicker of pain shifted behind Raven's eyes.

"We're both wanted for aggravated assault," Raven said. Her features were composed, but Beast Boy could see something inside Raven, something timeless and enduring, being chipped away. "I have a history of violent behavior," Raven said, her voice threatening to crack, "and you've been known to be unruly and volatile."

Beast Boy felt his stomach clenching, and he was thankful he hadn't eaten recently. He felt frozen; his emotions churned violently within him yet his body, his mind, refused to acknowledge what he had heard, what he felt. The changeling stared at Raven, hoping she would smile brightly and laugh about the priceless look on his face. Instead, she gestured to a newspaper resting a few feet from him.

The paper had obviously been thrown (there were loose comic strips scattered around it) but the front cover leered at Beast Boy. A photographed Raven smirked in black and white, her body hovering feet from the ground while deadly tendrils shot from the frame and grabbed someone. At the time it had been Dr. Light. Beast Boy doubted the spin mentioned that. Another picture of Raven, this time dressed completely in white, showed a little girl trapped inside a mechanical monstrosity as Raven crushed it. There were tears in the girl's eyes.

Beast Boy shuddered and allowed his eyes to pan across the cover. Just as he'd expected, there were pictures of him as well. Pictures of Beast Boy morphed into an unknown creature and scaling an office building while his teammates attacked him. Pictures of Beast Boy hanging around Murakami High in the bushes, outside the grounds, in front of the girl's bathroom. Bile rose in Beast Boy's throat as he mechanically reached for the paper.

"Don't," Raven whispered. It sounded like she was pleading, but Beast Boy couldn't stop himself. His hand closed around the page, and Raven shouted. The paper was engulfed in freezing black magic and instantly shredded. Beast Boy let go of the newspaper with a yelp and watched the scraps wither on the floor.

Beast Boy glanced up at Raven, half-expecting her to attack him. Her eyes were closed; her shoulders were tensed. Raven was hurting. Beast Boy gaped at the shredded paper – both for what had happened to it and the why behind it. Soundlessly, Beast Boy rose to his feet and walked over to Raven. The green elf reached Raven's side and collapsed next to her. He had spent so many years trying to be more than a freak people feared – all of the Titans had struggled to prove themselves to the city. To the world. And it looked like it was all being undone.

Beast Boy grasped Raven's cloak and pulled it down. She opened her eyes and scowled at the changeling before allowing herself to be pulled from her hovering stance. Beast Boy waited for Raven to sit next to him before draping his arm across her shoulders.

"I'm fine, Beast Boy," Raven said. Her voice was tight.

Beast Boy nodded and stared at the opposite wall. "No you're not. But this is for me," he said. Raven shifted under his arm, and he grabbed a fistful of her cloak. The empath sighed and leaned into Beast Boy, taking as much comfort from him as he was getting from her. They sat like that in silence: Beast Boy's arm around Raven, Raven's head on Beast Boy's shoulder, and both too devastated to care about their position.

"It's hard to imagine that works," Beast Boy said. Raven nodded against his shoulder but didn't speak. "I mean, we've done so much. And everybody has just… turned on us."

"They haven't," Raven answered. Her voice lacked conviction, but her tone was steady. "This is only temporary, you said so yourself last night. People will remember the good things we've done once the public outcry dies down. Until then…" Raven tapered off and waved at their underground lair. Beast Boy wished Raven sounded more certain.

The changeling frowned at the bland stone cavern and looked to the boxes next to him. They were stuffed with floppy disks, each bearing Robin's unique scribble. The elf craned his neck to read the titles. Every disk had a date and a Titan's name on it. They were color-coded – blue, black, red – but Beast Boy didn't know which color meant what.

Raven felt him shift and lifted her head off his shoulders. The abandoned shoulder felt cold, and Beast Boy fought the instinct to shiver. "We shouldn't make a habit of that," Raven said as she scooted away from Beast Boy. He frowned.

"Those are the records not logged in the tower," Raven continued as if nothing happened. She waved her hand, and a stack of the disks was embraced by her powers. They flew toward her and landed in her lap. The first disk had Raven's name on it, and, judging by the sorting she'd been doing, the ones under it were also hers. "I figured these records would be more accurate than the ones in the archives, because of the censoring Robin did on the official reports. I…"

"Needed to see what actually happened," Beast Boy finished for her. Raven nodded. The article written about them was obviously horrible if it shook Raven. Nothing ever got under her skin. "Did you see any about me?" Beast Boy asked. Raven dipped her head somberly in the direction of a large stack of disks.

"Blue are missions you did well. Black are neutral. And red are screw ups," Raven supplied without being asked. Beast Boy's eyes widened. It was a wonder Robin ever got to sleep. Or eat. Or use the bathroom. Beast Boy reached for the stack Raven had indicated, but his reach fell short. Scowling, the changeling got to his feet and walked to the pile.

Beast Boy scooped up the records and gauged the ratio of colors. Most of them were black. The elf slumped down next to Raven and flipped through the disks. The past months had a lot of blues, due in no small part to Beast Boy's development during the Brotherhood of Evil conflict. The changeling smiled faintly at the disks before setting them aside. The red disks were what he was interested it; his failures suddenly held a morbid fascination for the shape-shifter. Since this whole mess with Sawchak started with one of Beast Boy's mistakes, he found that appropriate.

Beast Boy frowned at the red disks, shuffling through them for earlier dates. Finally he found a familiar one: the date matched the fire that killed Sawchak's sister. Raven didn't look up from her own disks; she was too absorbed to notice when Beast Boy stood and walked to the computer.

Beast Boy managed to pause the film download after a little tinkering, and the computer purred to a halt. He could resume the process when he was done. Beast Boy found the A drive easily and popped the disk in. The computer winked at him before the screen loaded. The file was divided into multiple sections: demeanor, response, combat, and technique. Beast Boy quirked a brow at demeanor; he'd never known Robin was giving him a hero grade.

He ignored that file and clicked on response. The file had only a single Word document in it, and Beast Boy read it quickly. Apparently, he'd switched the broad channel transmission off and only contacted Starfire that day so many years ago. Beast Boy moved to combat only to find it empty. That was no real surprise, there had been no fighting. Beast Boy swallowed the lump in his throat and opened technique.

The folder was stuffed. Beast Boy remembered waking up in Titan's Tower and having private training lessons with Robin. He hadn't known it was all recorded. Spreadsheets, graphs, analysis, all of it was mapped out – from how long he could maintain an elephant's form under stress to how slow his transformations became when he was tired. Beast Boy popped the disk out and twirled it between his fingers. He hadn't given Robin enough credit: it was a little creepy, but it was way useful.

"So what do we do now?" Beast Boy asked. The question wasn't directed at anyone and he got no answer. "Raven?" Beast Boy asked. The changeling turned around to see Raven shuffling red disks together in her hands, utterly oblivious to the world around her. "Raven," Beast Boy said again.

"I don't know, Beast Boy. I've tried and it hasn't been enough. There are probably all sorts of people on the surface with cameras and helicopters: we can't leave. The others won't come back until they're sure it's safe. We're stuck down here, and I don't know what we should do." Her shoulders slumped; her eyes glazed over.

"Well, if you don't have an idea and I don't have an idea… can we just talk?" Beast Boy asked hopefully. The elf slipped the disk into his pocket and slid down to the floor. He crossed his legs and stared at Raven.

"I'd rather not, Beast Boy," Raven said.

"For starters," Beast Boy said, ignoring Raven's comment; the empath gritted her teeth, "did you have any clue Robin spent so much time on records? I had no clue. I mean, man… it's frightening."

Raven took a deep breath and answered levelly. She was stuck down here with Beast Boy anyway; it made sense to make the best of it. "I did know," she said. "In fact, Starfire and I have been trying to get him to stop." She caught Beast Boy's expression and added, "I know – it'll never work. That's why were just trying to come up with a more time-efficient system."

"Man! I miss all the good stuff. When were you guys going to tell me? I can help," Beast Boy said. Raven eyed him skeptically, and he added, "I would try." Raven's lips curled up and she quickly mastered her facial muscles. Otherwise, Beast Boy might make the mistake of thinking he was funny.

"We weren't going to tell you. The last thing we needed was for you and Cyborg to turn the whole thing into a game of insults and blackmail." Beast Boy looked up with mock-hurt etched onto his face. Raven ignored him. "Robin needs to loosen up and stop treating himself and the team like a lab experiment. He does not need jabs about how he should get a girlfriend."

"I'm shocked, Raven, that you think so little of Cyborg and me – even if Robin really needs to get a girlfriend." Raven rolled her eyes, and Beast Boy chuckled weakly. "Okay, so we would totally dangle it over his head forever… but, but we would wait until he was unpsychotic. We do have some common sense and decency."

"I'll vouch for the second one," Raven sighed, "but I cannot support a claim of common sense from a man who just created the adjective unpsychotic." Beast Boy smirked at Raven: her brooding expression had lightened, and there was the tinniest flicker in her eyes that said a smile was fighting to escape her lips. And she'd called him a man. Then what she said registered.

"You mean unpsychotic isn't a word?" The elf's ears wilted. That had been one of the fanciest words in his vocabulary. And apparently it wasn't a word. He shook his head, disappointed, before looking up at Raven. His expression seemed to say "Oh, well."

Raven put her hand to her forehead and inhaled. "No, Beast Boy, unpsychotic is not a word."

"Well, I tried, right?" Beast Boy grinned. "That has to be worth something, eh, Rae." The half-demon smiled. The cavern seemed to brighten to Beast Boy. The stone was more comfortable to sit on; the chill disappeared like a fly before a flyswatter; the oppressive atmosphere, the knowledge that he couldn't leave because no one on the outside would believe – let alone understand – what was happening, vanished like the numbness from recently gloved hands.

"Maybe… if you don't blow it," Raven answered vaguely. Her smile slipped away, but Beast Boy saw the meaning behind the gesture. It was a fleeting thing and he almost missed it, but the second Beast Boy saw just how grateful Raven was, he felt like a helium balloon. The demoness had been miserable, crushed by cruel propaganda and old mistakes. Beast Boy had taken them all away and scattered them to the wind… even if only for a moment, and Raven had repaid him with a smile. A real smile.

The two sat in amiable silence, stealing looks at each other and looking away again. Beast Boy felt like something important had just happened between Raven and him. The changeling couldn't have been more right. The silence stretched on in one of those rare extended silences that communicate more than words. What neither Titan realized was that they were being watched. The little red light hovered in the entranceway to the cave. With a small click, the camera switched off.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Well, I hope everybody is enjoying. Regardless, if you could, take a moment to tell me what you enjoyed and what you didn't like. Look for the next update by the end of November. It might not be there, but keep your eyes open. And, of course, happy Halloween! 


	12. Chapter 12

Well, this story has been going for a while, but it has reached its close. I hope all my readers enjoyed the ride, and that I've wrapped everything up satisfactorily. If you guys enjoyed Smile for the Camera (or any of my other work) I encourage you to keep your eyes open for my next story. Right now, I'm still debating which of my plot bunnies is most worthy.

I have a few general messages for you guys. Firstly, I'd like to say thank you to all readers. The very fact that you guys reached this final chapter speaks volumes to me.

To my reviewers, new and old, thank you all so much for taking the time to give me some feed-back. Reviews are never the reason to write a story, but I would be lying if I said I didn't appreciate every one of them.

With all the sentimental stuff out of the way, I give you the final installation of Smile for the Camera.

* * *

Smile for the Camera

Beast Boy was jarred from his thoughts a few minutes later by the sound of someone running down the tunnel into the Titan's hidden refuge. They weren't bothering to keep quiet. Beast Boy sprang up quickly and Raven did the same. The demoness inched away from Beast Boy subtly. He frowned.

The sound of pounding feet got closer and closer, and Beast Boy could hear multiple feet in pursuit. One of the pursuers had Cyborg's heavy gait; the other sounded like Robin. That meant someone had found the hidden refuge and been caught trying to escape. Beast Boy rushed to the tunnel mouth and morphed into a tiger. The changeling gnashed his teeth together and waited.

"Would you stop that?" Raven commanded from behind him. "Whoever they're chasing isn't a threat, otherwise they wouldn't be running back this way." Beast Boy growled but shifted back into his human form.

"There's no harm in being careful, Raven. You should be able to understand…" Beast Boy never got time to finish his lecture. A very solid body slammed into the changeling, and Beast Boy was sent sprawling. He landed on his knees and turned to glare at the intruder. Drew was getting off the ground, and it took a moment for Beast Boy to make the connection between who had run into him and who he was looking at.

"That's your idea of careful?" Raven chuckled from the side.

"Drew! How did you get down here?" Beast Boy asked. He tried to act dignified and keep the surprise out of his voice. He couldn't keep the surprise away, and Beast Boy couldn't salvage dignity from being plowed over by the cameraman. Cyborg and Robin rushed into the cavern and glared daggers at the weedy man.

Raven gestured for Cyborg and Robin to relax. "Robin, Cyborg, this is Drew, he's working with us on the counter-documentary." The empath stared pointedly at Robin and the Boy Wonder backed down.

"Hey, Beast Boy. I followed the tracker I put on you," Drew answered. He fished through his pockets and pulled out a very familiar device. The palm-sized monitor had a small red blip on it that pulsed every few seconds. Robin stiffened.

"You stole that!" Robin shouted when he saw the device. It was the same mechanism built into the Titan's communicators. The Boy Wonder had used the exact design to trace Jinx back to the HIVE Academy. Drew tossed the device at Robin, and he caught it deftly.

"You're right. Do you want to grill me for borrowing something I've already given back… or do you want to focus of the counter-documentary you need to finish in the next two days?"

"Wait a minute," Cyborg interrupted. "Are you seriously saying that Stewart's documentary is going to be finished in forty-eight hours? That can't be possible."

"It is," Drew said simply. "I don't think anyone on the tech staff has slept a wink since you guys ran off. You know Stewart, he's a terrific motivator when it suits him."

Beast Boy gapped at Drew. The documentary couldn't almost be finished; Cyborg hadn't even gotten a chance to render all of the footage yet. Beast Boy looked over to the computer and felt his stomach sink uncomfortably. He'd forgotten to restart the rendering after looking at his disk.

"What should we do?" Raven asked calmly. Only Beast Boy seemed to notice how pale Raven was – paler than usual. Drew brightened, and Beast Boy saw Robin clench and unclench his fists. The changeling could understand why: the Titans were in big trouble, Drew shouldn't be smiling.

"Get to work," Drew said. "I just quit Stewart's staff; I think Sarah Rose is going to stick around for a while. I'm here to help you guys out. I figured you don't know much about making documentaries, and you're going to need a hand."

"We appreciate it, man," Cyborg said slowly. Beast Boy didn't think the metal Titan sounded very grateful. "But we can handle it on our own." Drew smirked and Cyborg scowled. "All we need to do is present the truth next to Stewart's version and that'll be that."

Drew shook his head sadly. "No, that won't be that. The truth isn't enough, and you know it," the cameraman said.

"What would you suggest then?" Raven asked before Cyborg could retaliate. Drew held up his camera.

"You need to give the people something juicy. You need to look human; that will score you some points. I've seen parts of Stewart's documentary. It looks really good, I almost believed it, but there are a few holes in his story. That's where you get to capitalize… with this," Drew motioned to the camera.

Beast Boy frowned at the camera and tried to figure out what could possibly be on it that would make their counter-documentary stronger. Raven and he no doubt looked very bad, especially considering all the times they vanished. And the fact that they both attacked their shadows. Beast Boy's eyes widened and he waved his arms frantically.

"No way, dude! We can't use that footage, it will make things worse than they already are!"

Robin, Cyborg, and Raven all stared wide-eyed at Beast Boy. The fact that the changeling somehow knew what was on the camera and no one else did was strange. Then Raven's eyes widened as realization dawned on her. Drew had filmed them comforting each other.

"How can it get worse than this?" Drew asked wryly, waving his arm around the cave. "News flash, buddy, you've all hit rock bottom. The only place to go now is up."

Beast Boy growled and cradled his head. The speculation that would be created by the film of Raven and him comforting each other, especially if it was taken out of context, would be disastrous. Beast Boy wasn't in a relationship with Raven, they were just friends, but the glint in Drew's eye told Beast Boy that the cameraman could make it look like much more.

"What else can we do?" Raven asked after a moment. Beast Boy thought the dark girl was asking about alternatives, but it slowly registered that she had accepted Drew's proposal.

"We should talk about this one first," the changeling interrupted. Raven cut him off.

"No. We don't need to talk about this one. Everybody already speculates... you read the same stories I read. Let them have their perverse fantasies. What's next?" Raven asked, directing the question at Drew. Cyborg and Robin exchanged glances, then they shrugged simultaneously.

"Oh, come on!" Beast Boy yelled exasperatedly. "Where's Starfire? She'll back me up on this one," Beast Boy protested. Raven frowned at him, and Beast Boy thought he saw pain flash in her violet eyes. Then it was gone, and Beast Boy was positive it had been a trick of the light.

"Star's still on the surface trying to lose her helicopter entourage," Cyborg said with a light smirk. Beast Boy sighed loudly. Raven arched an eyebrow at the changeling and he cocked his head to the side.

"What?" he asked hesitantly.

"It's just that I don't think Starfire would agree with you," Raven said lightly. "If she pesters me about a real relationship, I doubt a fake one would bother her." Beast Boy's mouth went dry; Starfire and Raven had been talking, talking about Raven and him in a relationship. The changeling studied Raven, trying to figure out how those conversations ended. The demoness' face betrayed nothing.

"Okay… if you're sure, Raven," Beast Boy sighed. "So, Drew, what's next?"

ooooo

The next two days passed in a desperate flurry of activity during which Beast Boy felt completely and utterly useless. After he accidentally deleted a segment of film that Cyborg had to spend over an hour recovering, the changeling was banished to the couch, where he sat and watched the project that would determine a large part of his future and the future of his friends and family unfold.

Cyborg and Drew worked together extremely well, and Cyborg picked up one the technical aspects of documentary making quickly. The cybernetic teen also caught onto the styles and motifs Drew was going for. Raven spent most of her time going over completed footage and writing voice-over scripts for Robin. Starfire seemed to do nothing and yet everything to Beast Boy. The Tamaranian wasn't familiar with any of the technology being used, but the alien princess was an invaluable source of energy and optimism.

Beast Boy willed time to move faster, and was rewarded for his efforts with seconds that dragged by with leaden feet. None of them slept very much. Beast Boy found himself drifting off to sleep now and then and ran a few laps around the cave every time.

It was too risky for the Titans to venture above ground. Thankfully, emergencies in the city dwindled to a trickle even the Jump City Police Department could manage. After much pondering and debate, Drew agreed to get in touch with an old college roommate to get the completed counter-documentary into theatres. Stewart's version had already been in Jump City theaters for a day. After that, it wasn't long before life returned to normal – as normal as it ever got.

ooooo

Beast Boy walked into the Tower days later with a large cotton bag slung over his shoulder. The bag was full of mail from fans and critics of the Titans. The slant articles against Raven and Beast Boy had dried up quickly in response to public outcry. The counter-documentary Drew had crafted milked the "relationship" between Raven and Beast Boy and the one between Robin and Starfire for all they were worth. Beast Boy wasn't completely happy about it, he doubted anyone was, but it was better than the alternatives.

Fan-fiction was still up and running; Sawchak had maneuvered quickly to enumerate all the different ways the Titans had broken their contract, but story submissions had lessened. Beast Boy thought it was because of sympathy to the Titans. The changeling wasn't sure how long that would last.

He trekked up to the living room and dumped the bag of letters unceremoniously on the table. Cyborg looked up from where he was preparing lunch. Beast Boy opened his mouth to protest, but Cyborg silenced him with a look. Sitting on the edge of the table was a tofu sandwich. Beast Boy couldn't help but smile at how much that simple act cost Cyborg. But the eldest Titan had done it anyway.

"More letters?" Cyborg asked. He sounded bored. Beast Boy just nodded. "We could just burn all of them," Cyborg mused as he jabbed a ham with a fork to test its completeness.

Beast Boy shook his head. As much trouble as the letters were, it was nice to see the apologies. Tiny handed scrawls ripe with misspellings from children who had never doubted them, retractions from parents who had been pulled into the lies. Beast Boy liked to read those letters, because the changeling had doubted himself for a while during the whole ordeal. Knowing that other people hadn't sent Beast Boy soaring.

The changeling set about sorting the mail. Not all of the letters were retractions. Some were threats, some were rude, and some would be apologies if only their writer's had less pride. A letter for Starfire, one for Cyborg, Robin, Robin, Beast Boy, Raven, Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, Robin, Cyborg, Raven, Raven, Beast Boy. It went on until Beast Boy's fingers ached from picking up the envelopes.

Without speaking, Beast Boy scooped up Raven's letters and his. The changeling waved cheerfully to Cyborg before heading out of the living room. Before he knew it, Beast Boy was standing in front of Raven's door with his fist extended toward the door and suspended mid-knock.

"Come in," Raven's voice called from inside. Beast Boy jumped. He didn't know Raven could tell he was outside. The changeling pushed the door's panel, and it slid into its frame. Raven was sitting cross-legged on her bed with one eye cracked open. Beast Boy chuckled nervously: it was never a good idea, in his experience, to interrupt Raven while she was meditating.

"Hey, Rae, we got a few more letters," Beast Boy held up the clump of envelopes as if to offer the dark girl proof that he wasn't just wasting her time.

"I can see that, Beast Boy," Raven smiled. She paused for a moment. "Come in," Raven patted a spot next to her on the bed. The green shape-shifter walked into Raven's room slowly, like he was expecting to be attacked. The dark girl watched his progress with laughter dancing in her eyes. Beast Boy reached the bed and handed Raven her mail. The empath glanced at the stack and then back up at Beast Boy.

"I already told you to sit down," Raven deadpanned. Beast Boy smiled nervously and sunk down onto the bed. Raven picked up an envelope, and Beast Boy happened to catch the name on the return address.

"I didn't know you were keeping in touch with Sarah Rose," Beast Boy said. The changeling thought Raven would want to put as much distance between herself and the memory of the past few weeks as possible.

"Well, I am," Raven quipped. Beast Boy waited for Raven to open the envelope and skim the letter.

"Well," he asked, "what does it say?" Raven rolled her eyes, but Beast Boy noticed the usual annoyance didn't accompany the gesture. Raven was actually being playful.

"She says Stewart fired both Drew and her and that both of them have received about a dozen different job offers. She's thinking about going to work with Central Park Media. Sawchak is still raving against us, and he's going to be investigated for abusing his license." Beast Boy frowned in though. "You don't actually feel sorry for him, do you?" Raven asked. "The man's a monster."

Beast Boy nodded absent-mindedly. "And you're a half-demon. Don't get me wrong," Beast Boy added quickly when he saw Raven's face darken, "he's definitely one seriously bad dude, but… I guess I feel guilty about his sister."

Raven sat in silence. "You could always tell him so," she said. It came out little more than a whisper. "You shouldn't talk to him, but you could write him a letter and send him a copy of Robin's report disk. He won't forgive you, though, Beast Boy. He's lived too long with revenge in his heart to let it go."

Beast Boy frowned at his feet. A few moments later the contemplative changeling was replaced by a hyper teenage boy; he could deal with that later. The green teen ripped open an envelope and scanned through it. A little girl had written it. The girl said her parents had been angry, but she had never thought he'd done the terrible things people said he did. Scanning to the signature, Beast Boy's world jarred to a stop. Written in large looping letters was a name Beast Boy was very familiar with – Lynn.

"It isn't the same person, you know," Raven sighed from across him. Beast Boy's head shot up. Raven was leaning forward, reading the letter upside down.

"I know," Beast Boy sighed, and he felt a light tug at the back of his mind. "Hey, Rae, do you think we could talk about the whole going into my head thing?"

Raven uncrossed her legs and set her mail behind her, giving Beast Boy her undivided attention. "I don't see why not," she responded. "I'm not sure what there is to talk about."

"What do you know?" Beast Boy asked quietly. Raven's expression softened.

"Everything," the empath responded. "What you've done, what you've seen, how you feel about what you've done and seen." Beast Boy went cold. The boy had suspected as much, but hearing it put into words was still mind-boggling.

"So, you'll be more tolerant when I annoy you?" Beast Boy joked, trying to dull the all-consuming cold flooding through his body. Raven's expression went slack.

"I wouldn't go that far, Beast Boy," Raven laughed. For all his attempts to get Raven to laugh, the sound was strange coming from the demoness. Beast Boy poked her arm a few times to make sure she was real. Then he went too far and pinched her hand. Raven's glare spoke volumes. The changeling chuckled.

"Sorry, I guess I'm trying to wrap my mind around everything and acting–"

"You're acting like a child," Raven inserted for him, her expression frozen in place. Her physiognomy softened and Raven continued. "But I understand why – it's a lot to take in at once. I thought Robin was going to take a swing at me when he found out how much I'd learned from our mind-meld. If you want some time alone, we can talk later," Raven offered.

Beast Boy's brow furrowed. Raven knew everything there was to know about him. All his excuses, his masks, his antics, were laid bare before the critical demoness. She'd known everything all along, but she hadn't said anything until he asked. The changeling swallowed a lump in his throat and managed a weak smile. The cold inside him was still there, it would take a while to dissipate.

"I think I'll be fine," Beast Boy said. "Besides, you know everything about me now. It's only fair that you fill me in about you." Raven blinked a few times, and Beast Boy could see the immediate rejection flit in and out of her mind. Eventually, slowly, Raven nodded.

"What do you want to know?" the demoness asked. Beast Boy rummaged through his mind, looking for all the questions he had about Raven. Questions about her past, her behavior, her real thoughts about his jokes. Questions about her most embarrassing moment, questions about her life in Azarath. Raven knew everything about him, and Beast Boy had always wanted good blackmail against the empath.

As Beast Boy searched through his thoughts he couldn't think of Raven as the humorless girl who yelled at him and insulted him every time they spoke. He couldn't focus on the dark girl who had so thoroughly ignored him after he'd stumbled across fan-fiction. Beast Boy's thoughts kept roaming back into years past to the lonely young woman who had entrusted her heart to a monster and had it shattered. That girl and the one who had sat huddled with him feet away from a shredded newspaper were the same person. Beast Boy really liked that person. The young man sighed inaudibly.

"How are you doing?" As the last word left his mouth, Beast Boy could taste all sorts of hidden secrets creeping away from him so he could never find them again. Raven smiled up at him, a tiny little smile that seemed to strike a match in the icy presence that had consumed him.

"I'll be fine," Raven whispered. "The worst of this is over. It will take time, but I'll heal."

Beast Boy nodded in understanding. He knew all too well the healing powers of time. But for his deepest wounds, Beast Boy had never had to cope alone. After Terra had betrayed the Teen Titans, after Terra had turned to stone in the final double-cross, after Terra had mysteriously returned without a single memory of her life as a Titan, Raven had been there to help him wade through the encroaching depression.

"Do you want help?" Beast Boy asked. Raven looked up and caught his gaze. Beast Boy stared deep into Raven's violet eyes, willing her to see he was nothing but sincere. The empath lowered her gaze, and, on an impulse, Beast Boy reached out and cupped her chin. Slowly, Beast Boy raised Raven's eyes back up. She could have pulled away if she wanted to, but instead Beast Boy found himself staring into Raven's eyes as tears pooled over the irises.

A tear escaped and rolled down Raven's cheek. Beast Boy used his thumb to gently brush it away. Without warning, Raven threw herself at Beast Boy and buried her face in his shoulder. The changeling wrapped Raven in a tight embrace and tried to think of something comforting to do or say. He'd known Raven was hurt by the articles against them, but he'd never considered how deep the cuts were. Beast Boy couldn't think of anything to comfort Raven with, but she seemed content with the silent embrace. Raven pulled away before Beast Boy could figure out what to do.

"I could use a little help," Raven answered Beast Boy's question. Although there were tracks of water running along Raven's delicate features, her voice was perfectly composed.

Beast Boy pulled Raven to her feet. "First, we need to get you washed up. Then we need to go eat; Cyborg was making a ham earlier, and I'm betting he's done. No talking," Beast Boy instructed when Raven opened her mouth. The changeling dragged Raven to the bathroom and playfully pushed the demoness inside. The door slid shut before he could see the grin spreading across Raven's face.

They were all scarred in one way or another by Stewart and Sawchak. But it was over now. It was time to move on, to heal. Beast Boy sat outside the bathroom door as Raven washed her face, running over what to say in his letter to Sawchak. When the demoness emerged from the bathroom, she seemed more collected. Beast Boy thought she even seemed to glow. The changeling jumped to his feet and, together, Raven and Beast Boy walked to lunch. They would put this behind them in time. But they would do it together.

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**Author's Note:** I hope you have all enjoyed this story. I know writing it has been a fantastic experience for me.

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